Commonwealth Rising
by Bearsbandit53
Summary: This is Fallout 4 reimagined. Nate once called the Commonwealth home, but after two hundred years it is all but unrecognizable. With his son missing and threats around every corner, the very fate of the people in the Commonwealth is in question. Will he be able to make a difference, and will that difference be welcomed, or despised?
1. Chapter 1: The End is Only the Beginning

Hello everyone! Welcome to my story, which will be Fallout 4, reimagined. Truth be told I was dissatisfied with Fallout 4's story, so instead of doing nothing, I decided to put in words how I thought it could be better, and my story was born. As the story continues, it will deviate more and more for the game, but in a good way and one that in my opinion is much more interesting.

I hope you enjoy the Commonwealth!

* * *

Chapter 1: The End is Only the Beginning

"Thanks, and have a good day," said Nate as he closed the door on the Vault-tec representative who himself turned around and made his way to his company van in front of the house.

"Hey, it's piece of mind," said Nate's wife, Nora, as she sat on the couch in the living room idly watching the television.

"I know, it just a scary prospect."

"What is?" she asked as he took a seat beside her on the couch.

"The idea of spending a long time, if not the rest of our lives, in one of those vaults."

"Well at least if it does happen, we will be together. All of us." She put her hand over his.

"Yeah," said Nate giving her a grin. "As long as I have you and Shaun, I could get through anything. He leaned over to kiss her. She returned his kiss softly but as the seconds ticked by, the intensity between them rose.

The cries from Shaun filled the room breaking the small romantic moment. "Mr. Nate," said Codsworth coming down the hall a few seconds later. "Shaun has been changed but he refuses to calm down. I think he needs some of that paternal attention you seem to be so good at."

Nate gave the robot a nod and Codsworth hovered into the kitchen, his robotic arms getting to work on some task yet to be done. While Codsworth, and his British accent, had been something to get used to over the past few weeks, he was really becoming part of the family. Nate stood up from the couch and made his way to Shaun's room. He could hear Nora following him not too far behind.

"He there little guy," said Nate as he leaned over Shaun's crib. Shaun stopped crying as soon as he saw his father and just looked at him with big eyes and Nate could swear the baby had a genuine smile on his face.

"And how are the two most important men in my life doing?" asked Nora as she came into the room, shutting the sliding door behind her. "Spin the mobile. He loves that."

Nate did so, giving the mobile a push allowing the song to start playing. Shaun gazed up at the mobile and watched the mobile's toy rockets slowly rotating above him.

Nora stepped beside Nate and together they watched their son for a moment. For Nate in this moment there was only his family. The worries of the outside world were put on hold. The Chinese, supply shortages, the New Plague, all these things did not matter. All that mattered was his family. All that would truly ever matter would always be his family.

"It's a beautiful day today. How about we go to the park for a few hours?" asked Nora.

"You know," said Nate as he turned to look at Nora, "I think that sounds like a wonderful idea." He gave her a smile and she returned it in a way only her beauty could.

"Sir, ma'am," said a distressed Codsworth from the other room. "You need to come see this!"

Nate saw Nora's smile vanish from her face and she bent down to pick up Shaun. Nate quickly walked out the room. He did not know what happened but Codsworth's tone was almost unnerving. He stepped out from the hall to see Codsworth in front of the TV. He came to stop beside Codsworth and focused on the news anchor on screen.

"Followed by… Yes, followed by flashes. Sounds of explosions," said the anchor reading from a paper. He was visibly disturbed by his report as he continued. "We are trying to get confirmation. We seemed to have lost contact with our affiliate stations."

"What is he saying?" asked Nora worriedly as she came to stand beside Nate with Shaun in her arms.

"We do have…," continued the anchor. "We do have confirmed reports, I repeat confirmed reports, of nuclear detonations in New York and Pennsylvania. My God…" uttered the anchor placing his hand to his forehead. The signal cut out and a 'Please Stand By' picture filled the screen.

"Oh my God," said Nora as she looked nervously at Nate.

"We need to go," said Nate. "We need to get to the Vault now!"

"Okay," said Nora with a nod. "I've got Shaun. Let's go." She began moving to the door as the siren of an alarm began to wind up, bellowing the threat of doom that was beginning.

Nate turned to follow her, but hesitated for a second and turned back toward Codsworth. "I'm sorry Codsworth," he said earnestly. "Take care of yourself."

"Worry about your family, sir," said Codsworth confidently. "I will be fine." Nate gave him one last nod and ran out the door following Nora.

He stepped out of the house right behind Nora and Shaun just as a vertibird flew overhead, the roaring sound of its propellors deafening. On a normal day, the prototype aircraft was a sight to see as there were only a few of them in operation. But today, no one even bothered to look up. A few people were desperately throwing a few pieces of luggage into their cars, but most in the neighborhood were running alongside Nate and Nora to the vault. Some dragged bags and suitcases, but they were left behind by those fleeing with nothing. Nate doubted that all of these people were on the list to get into the vault, but he knew they were most likely doomed no matter what they did if a bomb fell.

Nate led Nora off the main road and onto a trail that led to Vault 111. The Vault-tec representative that he had spoken to only a few minutes ago was arguing with a Vault-tec security officer and the security checkpoint. He was only one of many there, all saying they should be let in. However, the Vault's security team, including one person operating a suit of power armor holding a mini-gun, suppressed the people from getting to rowdy just yet. But that did not stop the representative from growing louder demanding to be let in. The power-armored soldier whirling up his mini-gun and pointing it at the representative shut the man up. He turned and ran past Nate and Nora, yelling he would tell Vault-tec of this incident as he went by.

With Nora in tow, Nate made his way through the small crowd, pushing a few people aside quite roughly, and to the security officer the representative had been arguing with.

"Please," pleaded Nate. "You have to let us in! We have reservations inside the Vault."

"Name?" asked the security officer in a stern voice.

"Nate Williams and this my wife Nora and our son Shaun."

The security officer flipped through the few pieces of paper on the clipboard he was holding. On each sheet were various names and pictures of who the names belong to. The officer gave a nod after a few moments and stepped aside to let them through. "Follow the security officer to the entrance." He gestured to another officer standing a few yards back.

Nate and Nora passed through the checkpoint. The crowd they left behind became even louder as they saw more people gain entrance while they were left stranded. While the thought of leaving anyone behind in such a situation did not sit well with Nate, he had an obligation to his family. He could only wish the best for the others, many of which were his neighbors. Even… even if it was only a quick death.

"Quickly, follow me!" said the officer they were told to follow. He began running up the hill. Nate and Nora wasted no time following him. "Hurry and step onto the platform! It will take you down to the vault," he said as they reached the top of the hill.

There were already a few people already waiting on the platform as Nate and Nora rushed to join them as the security officer went back down the hill. As they reached the platform, the vertibird he had seen earlier began to land. Its propellors threw dirt into the air as it touched down.

On the platform Nate realized that he knew everyone already there. They were his neighbors. He and Nora had only been in the house for a couple of months, but he recognized all their faces. They all shared the same look. One of nervous waiting.

Nora pulled on Nate's arm. He turned to look at her. "I love you," she said as she looked into his eyes.

"I love-." A flash interrupted his words and he quickly stepped in front of Nora and Shaun so they would not be exposed to the light. A venomous chill ran down his spine. He knew the flash could only come from a nuclear detonation.

A few others were not so smart or lucky and were looking where the flash originated or looked towards it when it bloomed. They screamed as they were blinded by the nuclear light.

With a jolt the platform began to descend. Nate could hear a roar coming from the nuclear detonation and carefully turned to look over his shoulder. A wall of dirt from the shockwave thundered their way. He forced Nora down to her knees and tried his best to cover her. The other people on the platform did the same, dragging down those that were either too stupid to do so or blinded. Slowly the platform descended, but it was just far enough that the shockwave passed by overheard, raining dirt and debris on them from above. As the door overhead began to close, the last thing he could hear was the screams of the people as their world, and most likely their lives, ended.

-)(-

"We made it," whispered Nora with a sigh of relief as the platform stopped descending and came to a rest. A gate began to lift and they made their way off. A couple of security officer came up to help those that had been blinded or were still on the ground.

"Please everyone. Make your way up the stairs behind me and into the vault," said the man Nate recognized as the Vault 111's overseer from flyers that had been passed around the neighborhood a couple of weeks ago. "You are all safe now. Welcome home."

Nate and Nora moved up the the stairs. Nate did not know if he would ever consider the vault home, but he did not have any choice in the matter now. He looked at Nora and Shaun as they passed into the vault proper. ' _At least we are alive, and together,'_ he thought.

The stopped as they found a line with a few people already in front of them. Each waited to be called and handed a suit along with the instructions to follow one of the vault personnel deeper into the vault. The scene was almost unnerving to Nate. Above them everything they knew was being burned, yet here it was so calm, so orderly. Of course, he figured that the vault personnel had been trained to act this way, but to him their act just made the situation all the worse. It was simply unnerving. Didn't these people have families, friends that were left above to a fate unknown? Surely they had to be a least a little sad, and to show that sadness in some way. Yet they went on as though they were managing a community event, happy and cheerful all the way.

After another minute Nate and Nora were called forward and handed a vault suit. They were told to follow a doctor waiting to escort them. They did so and the doctor went on about the Vault as he led them further into it, but Nate was barely listening. What part of his mind was not wondering about the outside world, about his parents and sister, was observing everything he could about the areas they walked through, reserving it all in memory. Of course, there was not much to observe as they soon came to a halt in a room with a few other people and an equal number of large open pods attached the floors.

"Alright everyone," said the doctor in a cherry voice. "If you all will please put on your vault suits and place your discarded clothes into the hamper by the entrance. Then step into the decontamination pods and once that is done we will make our way deeper into the vault." Everyone began doing what they were told.

"Here, let me hold Shaun while you put on yours," said Nate as he took Shaun from Nora's arms. She put on her suit and then took back Shaun so Nate could put on his.

Soon everyone was finished and the doctor told them to step into the pods.

"Doctor, will our son be alright though the decontamination process?" asked Nora.

"Yes ma'am," answered the doctor with a smile. "It will only take a minute and I assure you he will be fine. If you'd like, I will check him over personally after we get deeper into the vault."

"Alright then," said Nora and she turned with Shaun in her arms and stepped into a decontamination pod. Nate stepped into the one directly across from her.

The doctor walked to other side of the room and accessed a terminal mounted on the wall as everyone present stepped into a pod. "Everyone, I am about to start the decontamination process. The pods will close and you will feel a cool mist. It will only take a minute and then we will be done." As he finished the doors to the pods began to close.

With a hiss Nate's door sealed. On the door was a small window and he could see Nora and Shaun through it. She gave him a small wave and he gave her one back.

"Decontamination process beginning in: five," said an artificial voice inside the pod. A cold mist began to spread over Nate. "Four. Three," counted down the voice as the mist turned from cold to freezing. Nate gave a shiver. The small window began fogging up. "Two." He shook his head head trying to shake off a tired feeling overtaking him. "One."

' _Wait, is that ice on the window?_ " thought Nate. But he had not time to ponder it as his vision faded until he saw nothing.

-)(-

He was freezing. Shivering he struggled to open his eyes.

"Manual override initiated," said the same artificial voice that was just counting down a moment before.

He finally opened eyes, but white light harshly bounced off the mist and made it difficult to see. But thankfully the mist started to fade and another second later he could see through the window. In the pod across from him Nora was moving around as well. The light's in the room outside the pod seemed dimmer than they had been only a few seconds ago.

Suddenly a person in a hazmat suit stepped into view. It pointed to Nora's pod. "This one," said a female voice from inside the suit.

Then a bald man stepped pass the woman and to the other side of Nora's pod. "Open it up," he said.

The pod's door opened and Nate watched as Nora took a deep, shuddered breath. Shaun began to cry.

"It's okay," said Nora to Shaun as the woman in the hazmat suit moved close to her, her arms outstretched.

"Hold on," said the bald man. "Everything's going to be fine."

The woman in the hazmat suit reached for Shaun and tried to pull him out of Nora's arms, but Nora resisted, pulling Shaun as close to her as she could. Nate banged on the window and yelled at them to get away from his family, but if they heard him they pretended otherwise.

"Let the boy go," said the bald man as he unholstered a pistol and pointed it at Nora. Nate yelled with rage and pounded harder. "I'm only going to tell you once," continued the man.

Nora continued to fight with the woman. "I'm not going to give you Shaun!" she yelled defiantly as Nate screamed as loud as he could as he looked for anything that might open up his pod.

But anything he could have done was too late as he heard a shot ring out from the man's pistol and Nora fell back into the pod allowing the woman to grab Shaun. Nate stopped. He could only stare. Words would not come. Action of any kind was silent. He could only watch in shock for a split second as Nora moved her hand over a bullet hole in her chest, blood pouring out from it. The door of Nora's pod quickly closed back as he watched his wife struggle. The door sealed and he saw Nora's hand slap against the window of her pod, blood smearing across it.

"Let's go," said the bald man to the woman who turned to exit with Shaun in her arms. The bald man paused, looked over at Nate and then moved his way placing his face close to the the window of Nate's pod. His eyes were cold, his face hard with an ugly scar on the left side of his face from forehead down to the bottom of his cheek. "At least we have a backup," he said with a smirk. Then he turned to leave and was soon out of sight.

Nate roared and slammed his fist against the window again and again, his own blood break free of his skin and dotting the transparent surface. But it was useless. So useless. In that moment, as the mist came back and he grew cold, he was nothing but.

-)(-

Nate shuddered. He could feel the adrenaline pumping though his veins. He once again struggled to open his eyes and again his freshly opened eyes were met by a harsh light that reflected off the mist. This time though, the door opened and the mist escaped the pod.

Nate fell out of the pod and onto his hands and knees. He breathed deep, shuddered breaths. With everything he had, he willed his body up. ' _Nora. I have to get to Nora!_ ' he screamed in his mind as he stumbled forward.

He fell against her pod with a dull thud. Its window was still smeared with her blood on the inside. He grabbed for the release lever to its side. "Come on! Come on! COME ON!" he yelled as the door slowly opened up.

But after the door was fully opened, he could only stand and look on, paralyzed. There she was. Still. She was not breathing, her chest unmoving. Blood was trickling out of her wound. He stifled a cry. Tears swelled in his eyes. ' _This can't be happening!_ ' he thought to himself as he stared in disbelief. His wife… his wife was dead.

Then she coughed and her chest heaved as her lungs swelled with air! She briefly opened her eyes and looked directly at him. "Nate," she could only whisper as she fell out of the pod with Nate barely catching her and in his weakened stated they crashed to the floor.

He moved her off from on top of him and laid her on the floor. He felt for her pulse. It was weak, but it was still there. She breathed shallowly, but she was alive! He just had to keep her that way. He looked around. There was nothing he could use here in this room to help with her wound. So with all the strength he could muster, he lifted his wife in his arms and moved as fast as he could.

He backtracked the way they had entered the vault, but one of the doors wouldn't budge. He turned down a side hall and made his way. His mind was racing, but the vault was different than he remembered. Where the walls, floors and fixtures had been clean and polished, now they were rusted and covered in grime. There was a smell of wet mold in the air. As he raced through the vault's halls he knew that something had happened, and whatever had happened had occurred over years, not the few minutes he remembered being in the vault. But he had no time for that.

He quickly turned a corner, and as quickly came to a stop. ' _What the hell?_ ' he thought as he looked ahead of him where three… what could only be considered giant roaches stood perfectly still. The three of them were easily over a foot long. They were not natural.

But they did not stay perfectly still for more than a second before they began scurrying towards Nate and Nora. Nate was caught off guard and he moved back only to feel his back hit the corner he had just turned. Before he could react one of the roaches jumped into the air and landed on his knee. Before Nate knew it, a felt the creature slicing open his thigh. He could feel his warm blood pour out.

He quickly realized these creatures were dangerous and fiercely shook the roach off. It landed on the floor and before it could move, Nate slammed his foot down hard on top of it. It did the job. The creatures had a mean bite, but they were weak.

Without hesitation Nate lunged towards the other two roaches, careful to keep Nora in a firm grasp as he did so. Soon the fate of the other two roaches was the same as the first and Nate moved on, desperate to get out of the mutated hell he now found himself in.

They passed a few more rooms, some housing more pods. Some even held skeletons in vault suits. But he had not time to worry about the dead as he encountered more roaches along the way, though they proved little challenge. Finally they stumbled into a dining area. Off to the side were a few bunk beads. Nate wasted no time and put Nora on one of the bottom bunks and moved to tare a sheet so he could bandage her wound. A minute later the wound on her chest was covered, at least, but it was still bleeding.

' _I need a stimpack_ ' he thought. He searched the room, but found nothing. He knew he could cover more ground if he left her on the bunk while he searched, but he did not dare leave her alone with the threat of the roaches. Even if he closed all the doors he did not know if it would be enough to keep her safe. So he picked her up again. Her face was as white as snow. He needed to hurry.

They continued to make their way, but finally he found what he needed. He could see a large room with a desk and on the desk were three stimpacks, just sitting there. But they were not the only things in the room, though. As he peeked around the corner, he tried his best not to be seen by the ten or so roaches in the room. That many would be a challenge, but he desperately needed those stimpacks.

He saw no choice. He checked around him to make sure the area was clear and then placed Nora on the floor. He turned back to the room with the desk. Then he charged. With both feet he landed the the first roach then made his way to do the same with another. By the time he got to the third, the rest were already reacting to his assault. They swarmed him and when they landed he could feel them ripping into his flesh. But he did not stop or hesitate. Instead he stomped, punched and ripped apart the roaches with his hands and feet until they were all dead.

He felt lightheaded and blood poured from too many wounds to count. He paid a price, but he got both the stimpacks and quickly made his way to Nora on the floor, a trail of his own blood following him all the way.

He readied one of the stimpacks and jammed it into his wife's chest, pressing the plunger down. He did the same with the second. He watched as the wound immediately began to heal. Nora's breathing evened out and a little color returned to her face. He thought about giving her the third stimpack but deciding against it not wanting risk her overdosing. Luckily, the bullet did not seem to have hit anything vital, and so the stimpacks should be enough to hold her for now. But she needed a doctor, or at least someone that had some medical experience. He did not know how extensive the injury was and a stimpack could only do so much if it was anything serious.

So, he used the third stimpack on himself. The needled hurt and it pierced his skin, though it soon passed as he hit the plunger and his wounds began to heal.

He laid there for a moment, talking calmly to Nora, more to comfort himself rather than to spur her awake. She needed to rest, though it would be nice if she could walk.

Finally, he stood up and once again picking her up, he made his way back to the desk. The entry way said that the room belong to the overseer of the vault. He hoped to find some answers to what was going on at least. There was a terminal on the desk, but he put off accessing it just yet, wanted instead to see if there were any useful supplies around.

He placed Nora on the floor beside the desk and started rummaging through it. He found a unloaded 10mm pistol and a few small boxes of ammo. He loaded the bullets into the magazine and popped it back into the pistol. The weapon's heavy weight gave him a grateful measure of comfort and security. He continued to search the room. A small armory was off the the side, but it was locked. He returned back to the desk, opened a drawer and pulled out a bobby pin he had seen just a moment ago. He went back to the door and after a minute he managed to get it unlocked. Inside was another pistol and more ammo, as well as a funny looking gun behind an tougher lock compared to the one on the door. He decided not to bother and continued searching for anything useful.

He managed to find two more stimpacks, but little else of use, so he decided to take a peek at the terminal. He was surprised to find that it did not have a password on it, thankful for the extra bit of good luck.

He read the logs first, but none of what he read brought anything close to comfort. ' _Test subjects. We were just test subjects,_ ' he thought as he read through the computer files as he balled his fist realizing that their purpose in the vault had only been to test the long term effects of cryogenic storage. He continued reading. Apparently a mutiny had broken out lead by the vault's security team that wanted to leave after the supplies dwindled down. But there was nothing in the files about what ultimately happened. However, with the few skeletons he had seen around the vault, he knew there was probably no true happy ending.

When he was through with the logs, he activated a command that was suppose to unlock the door in the room that led to the vault's entrance. He heard a click from a door on the other side of the room and moved from the desk to open the door. He peeked through. The coast was clear. He went back to pick up Nora and continued their way.

A few minutes later Nate finished off the last roach with a stomp. There were quite a few skeletons here, some in vault suits, others in lab coats. He laid Nora down again and moved toward the control panel that would open the vault door. However, he could not hit the button necessary to do so, not without a Pip-Boy that would allow him to unlock the plastic panel protecting it. Luckily, there was one on one of the skeletons. With little ceremony he pulled it off, the hand coming with it. He tossed the hand aside and slapped on the device. It booted up as soon as it was securely around his wrist. He was glad it was not one of the ones that were genetically tied to the wearer.

He had seen Pip-Boys on display before and on TV, but never actually wore one, but it did not take him long to figure out how to use it. There was an adapter on the back and it looked like it would fit perfectly into a port on the door control panel. He tugged on it and it popped off, a small cord connecting it with the Pip-Boy. He plugged it into the port and a plastic cover popped open, the read button underneath begging to be pushed.

Nate hesitated before hitting it. There did not seem to be many supplies here, but was it still better than what he might find outside? As soon as the door opened he could flood the whole vault with radiation and kill them both.

Then he though of the roaches and with the realization of the risk they posed and that eventually they would have to leave, he pressed the button firmly.

The gear shaped door screeched as it was pulled out and then rolled to the side. After the door was fully open and the small bridge was extended allowing them to pass through, with Nora in hand, Nate exited the vault proper as he listened to the platform descend from above. When it was ready, he stepped onto it and hit the button to begin their ascent back into the world above.

-)(-

Nate could only stare in depressing awe. It was early morning, but the beauty he always knew that was brought with the dawn did nothing to ease the destruction he witnessed in front of him. Everything was destroyed. He stood overlooking Sanctuary Hills, his home. He was just there an hour ago, but now, now it was a wreck! More than that, it was obvious that it had been so for a long time. He look passed his home and could see Boston in the far distance. He could tell it was no better. It had all been destroyed. Who knew how many people were alive. There were skeletons all around the vault entrance, but he knew some had to be alive. After all, Shaun was not kidnapped by ghosts.

"Well at least there's not really any radiation," he said to an unconscious Nora, trying to lighten the mood if just for himself. At least he hoped there was not and the Pip-Boy with its built in geiger counter was working properly.

Without much else he could think to do, he decided to move down to Sanctuary. There did not seem to be any people and maybe they could find some more supplies, or at least someplace quite to hole up.

He made his way with Nora in his arms. His arms burned as they tired from carrying his wife for so long, but he stayed strong and retraced their steps they had taken when they came to the vault. They made it back to the road and Nate turned toward his house, or what was left of it anyway. Then he saw movement and he stilled.

In front of his house was a Mr. Handy unit hovering in the air. ' _Could it be?_ ' he thought. ' _Codsworth?'_

He slowly made his way to the robot. There was not way that it could have been Codsworth, right?

"Mr. Nate?" called the robot with its British accent as it hovered towards him. "As I live and breath. It's… it's REALLY you!"

"Codsworth?" Nate called back.

"I don't believe it, sir," said Codsworth. "After all this time, it is really you. But what is wrong with Mrs. Nora? And where's young Shaun?"

"She's been shot," answered Nate, leaving off what happened to Shaun. "She needs to rest. Is there any place secure enough here?"

"Well, sir, I'm afraid your house, or any houses aren't up to securely holding anyone, and there is something of an infestation in a few of them."

"Damn," answered Nate thinking about more of those roaches. He closed his eyes, trying to ignore his straining arms as he tried to think of a solution. "Okay, uh, what about the root cellar?"

"Root cellar, sir?" asked Codsworth.

"Jacob Stadler, he had a root cellar behind his house," said Nate. "I remember him talking about turning it into a bomb shelter. Is it secure, Codsworth?"

"I don't know, sir, but let's go see!"

Jacob's house was only a few houses down and a quick walk away. They went behind it, but there were only large, vile looking bushes. Nate almost gave up hope and started to think of something else thinking he was mistaken, but then he saw it.

"There, Codsworth. Under those bushes to the rights, I can see the door. Can you clear it?"

"Consider it done, sir!" said Codsworth. The circular saw on one of his arms came to life and soon the entrance was clear and the brush was cleared away revealing the door.

Nate walked up to it, but a heavy lock sealed the door shut. "Codsworth?"

Without hesitation, Codsworth brought his saw down on the lock, and after a few screeching seconds, the lock slid off. Codsworth then opened up the cellar doors and moved quickly inside. "It's all clear down here, sir," he called up.

Nate wasted no time. It was dim in the cellar with only the light from outside to use. But there was a bed and a good amount of supplies, though none looked like medical supplies. Nate set Nora on the bed and began looking around. There was a small fusion generator and he tried it, and miraculously it purred to life powering a few lights. With the lights on, Nate closed the cellar doors. The was a heavy sliding lock on the inside of the doors and he pulled it across affording them at least some safety.

He went over to Nora and sat down on the ground beside the bed. "Thank you, Codsworth," he said sincerely to the robot.

"My pleasure, sir. It may have been two-hundred years, but I have not forgotten my duties to you and your family."

Nate reaction was delayed, but after a second his head snapped up. "Wait, did you say two-hundred years?" Could it really have been that long?

"Yes, sir," confirmed Codsworth. "A bit over 210 actually, sir. Give or take a little for the Earth's rotation and some minor dings to the ole' chronometer."

Nate just let his head sink, his eyes falling to look at the ground. "Unbelievable." Everything he knew was gone. His parents, sister, all his friends. They were now just memories. The only people he had left were Nora… and Shaun. His head began to spin. He had completely forgotten about his son! He scolded himself. Everything had been so chaotic. In to him what felt like the span of an hour, two-hundreds years had slipped past and his wife was no lying severely wounded in the ruins of their neighborhood.

But, as much as he might wish otherwise, finding Shaun would have to wait. Getting help from Nora took priority, especially since he was clueless as to where Shaun was, and more worrisome, if he was even still alive.

"Sir, where's young Shaun?" asked Codsworth as if tuning in to the theme of Nate's thoughts.

"Shaun's been… kidnapped," started Nate. "By the same people that shot Nora. You haven't seen anyone come through here, have you Codsworth? A woman in a hazmat suit along with a bald man that had a scar on his face?"

"I'm sorry, sir, but I have not seen anyone in Sanctuary Hills in quite some time. But they might be around here somewhere! If you like we can go take a look around the neighborhood."

"No," said Nate firmly as he rose from the ground. "No, we need to find help for Nora. I gave her a couple of stimpacks but she still needs to see a doctor. Codsworth, is there anyone around here, or any real medical supplies? I don't see any in here."

"I'm sorry, sir, but there isn't. But you may want to check Concord. There are a few people that only shot at me a few times when I ventured too close. They may have some medical supplies, if not a doctor."

"People in Concord, huh? I guess that will have to do. Codsworth, will you stay here with Nora, make sure no harm comes to her?"

"Of course, sir. It would be my honor."

Nate gave the robot a nod and moved to the door. He had a ripped vault suit and a pistol and he was going out into a world he knew instinctively was not pleasant. He took a quick glance back at Nora. He had no choice, so he headed out of the root cellar and made his way to Concord.

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And so ends Chapter 1. Please let me know what you think. You guys are the reason that I am writing this so please feel free to let me know your thoughts!


	2. Chapter 2: A Soldier's Duty

Hello Everyone! Here is the next chapter of Commonwealth Rising!

Please feel free to follow and favorite if you are enjoying it.

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Chapter 2: A Soldier's Duty

The man's corpse was only a day or so old, but it was in horrid condition. It was covered in bite marks, deep ones. Most likely they came from the dead mutated dog laying next to the man, a small bullet hole in the center of the dogs head. But for the man, that shot had been too little too late. Their combined blood had pooled and dried around them.

Nate was just over the old wooden bridge that led to Sanctuary Hills where he found the scene, the two were simply in the middle of the road. What part of the man's face that was not covered in blood was covered with filth. Clearly he had not lived a good life, at least not recently. Nate wondered if this was the fate of everyone in the Commonwealth. He supposed he would find out.

Bending down over the man to see what he had on him, the stench was the worst part to overcome. It reminded him of times better forgotten, of battlefields and dead friends. But he pushed it out of his mind as he searched through the man's pockets. Next to the man was what looked like a handmade pistol, but it looked like a piece of junk. His 10mm was easily a wiser choice.

The man had two things on him worthy of taking. One was a belt with a few pouches on it. A handful of bullets were in it, but since they were .38 caliber they would not be of any use for him, at least not now. He left them in one of the pouches as he strapped the belt around his waist. There was blood on it but it was of little consequence. The other item was a shoulder harness with a holster that snuggly fit his pistol. He counted his good luck, even though it was the result of the dead man's misfortune, and moved on.

He moved quickly, but carefully on the side of the road staying behind what brush he could. He did not know anything about the surrounded area. Sure, he knew the general layout, but his information was two-hundred years out of date. While it did not look like the roads had changed, there could be roadblocks, obstacles and groups of men or beasts waiting to give him a bad day or a fire off a lucky shot to the head before he even saw them. So he kept his head down and stayed quiet.

He made it to the Red Rocket truck stop. Like everything else it was in poor condition, but it looked sturdy, certainly better of than the homes back in Sanctuary Hills. He observed the area and saw nothing, so he moved forward hoping to find some supplies. Maybe he would not have to even go to Concord if he was lucky enough here.

There was a lot of rubble and debris and he peered through the windows but did not see much. The garage door was open and he figured it would be the best place to start. But as he moved towards it to enter the station, he felt a tremor beneath his feet. He paused. ' _Are there earthquakes now?_ ' he thought to himself. But as he was thrown from his feet, he quickly realized it was not an earthquake.

He landed hard on his back and landing in front of him fresh out of the whole was a horribly ugly creature. It looked like a giant mutated hairless rat, with large yellow teeth on its snout. The creature lunged at Nate and he acted on pure instinct as he pulled the pistol from his holster and fired once at the creature. The bullet slammed into its mouth and through its head and the rat landed on its side just beside Nate, already dead.

But before he could give a sigh of relief, he felt another tremor underneath him. He quickly rolled to his side just before another rat burst out of the ground. He fired, hitting the creature in its belly and killing it as he jumped to his feet. But it was not over yet. In quick succession, five other rats exploded out of the ground, nearly all at the same time. He wasted no time, aiming and firing his pistol. However, the distance gave the rats time to maneuver and they ran around, two coming up on his right and three on this left. He aimed at the group of three and fired. Five pulls of the trigger and the three rats were either dead or immobile enough where it did not matter.

Unfortunately, he was just too slow and the other two rushed towards him, closing the gap. He could not aim his pistol fast enough, but he tried nevertheless. But as he brought his pistol around, knowing it would not be fast enough to prevent them from at least reaching him, a black shadow slammed into the two rats, knocking them to the side.

The shadow was a large german shepherd and with a growl it turned around and pounced on one of the rats, its teeth tearing into the creature's flesh. The other rat, having forgot Nate, turned and lunged at the dog, but just as the dog had saved Nate, so too did Nate save the dog. As the rat sailed in the air, a single bullet from Nate's pistol slammed into its side, knocking it down. The creature struggled on the ground, crying out, but then it fell still and silent.

The dog barked and Nate quickly turned to face it, his pistol ready to fire if the dog was hostile. But there was no hostility in the dogs eyes or demeanor. In fact, it wagged its tail and came up to Nate.

"Hey there, boy," said Nate as the dog stopped in front of him. He hesitantly reached out a hand a petted the dog on the head. After a few seconds, he knew the dog was no threat and bent down on a knee to give the dog a bit more attention. "You really saved me, you know it?"

The dog barked in response. Nate guessed that mean yes and smiled. He carefully checked over the dog. There was no collar and the fur was filthy, but the dog seemed to be in good health. And it was clear it was use to people and friendly towards them. Nate wondered how trained the dog was. He stood up and ordered the dog to sit, lay down and shake. The dog did not disappoint and followed all of his commands. Nate took another few minutes testing the dog's listening abilities. He could follow directions easily. Nate was impressed.

"Okay, boy. How about you come with me?" The dog barked and Nate took it as a 'yes.' "Alright then, stay close."

Nate went into the truck stop to search for supplies, but after a few minutes found nothing of real interest. Some junk, but nothing else. So Nate, with the dog in tow, set off and continued to Concord.

-)(-

Gun fire echoed off the dilapidated buildings in Concord. A group of men fired at two men on a balcony of the museum in the center of town. The attackers lacked discipline and organization, moving around and firing blindly with small arms. The two on the balcony were much more efficient. They had some strange type of laser rifle that made a funny noise every it discharged a round, and when they managed to actually get off a shot between the waves of bullets trying to find them, there aim was far more true than that of their attackers. A few of the attackers were already dead or injured on the ground because of it.

"You can't hold out all day!" yelled one of the attackers. "We are going to get you and we are going to have some fun when we do!"

Nate watched all of this from down the street of the museum. He crouched behind a burnt out car, trying to keep out of sight, his pistol ready to be used. He had told the dog to stay back, and thankfully the dog had listened. Concord definitely had people alright, but he did not know if any of them were friendly. As he listened to the attackers taunt the defenders, he figured that the attackers were not friendly at all. Of course, he did not know if the defenders were either and even if they were, he really doubted he could take on all of the attackers to aid them.

One of the defenders screamed and Nate's eyes widened as he watched the man fall over the railing and down to the ground. He heard the man slam into the ground and could see him from his position. Miraculously, the man was not dead. But, as he moved around on the ground, it looked that at least his legs were broken. The fallen defender tried to move towards the laser rifle that had fallen with him, but it was too far way from him to grab in time as three of the attackers rushed man.

The defender on the balcony fired at the three rushing his fallen ally, but he was pushed behind cover by the attackers peppering his position. The three attackers reached the fallen man a few seconds later. They were not gentle. Stomping him with their feet and hitting him with tire irons, the attackers were brutal and soon the fallen man was little more than mush.

Behind him there was a click of a gun. "You move and the same thing's going to happen to you," said an unpleasant male voice from behind him. "Now turn around."

Nate did so, slowly. The man was one of the attackers and he was wielding a handmade pistol, similar to the one Nate left behind earlier near Sanctuary Hills. This one looked like it was made out of small pipes and spare parts of various guns. At this range, he did not dare to test how effective of a weapon it was.

"Well, well. What a surprise," said the man. "It seems like I found myself a pretty boy. Your skin is so clean and your teeth are so white. You from Diamond City?"

Nate did not know of anyplace called Diamond City, but he had to suppress a smile at being called a 'pretty boy.' It was almost comical. Of course, the man pointing the gun at him certainly was far from it as well. He was filthy and stunk worse than a old pile of garbage and his clothes looked like garbage and hung loosely on his malnourished, thin body. He eyes bounced around, like he was high on drugs. He was clearly dangerous.

"Why don't you put that pistol of yours on the ground," ordered the man.

Nate nodded. He placed the gun on the ground, and looked back at the man. The man looked at him, but just for a second his gaze flicked past Nate and down the street towards the siege. It was more than enough time for Nate.

Quickly, Nate lunged forward and grabbed the man's pipe-pistol and spun it out of his hand before the man could react. With the pistol in Nate's left hand, he mustered his strength and slammed his open right hand into the man's throat shoving him to the ground. Nate jumped on top of him, dropping the pipe-pistol to the ground and used both hands to choke the man. The man struggled, but he was weak compared to Nate. After a few long seconds, the man stopped moving, his eyes fading as the life left his body.

"Hey! Someone's attacking Lloyd!" shouted someone closer to the museum behind Nate.

A feeling of dread went through Nate's body and as he turned around to look over his shoulder. He saw one of the attackers on the roof, looking directly at him as he announced to the rest what Nate was doing to their fellow. Nate watched as the attacker on the roof brought his rifle up and saw a few others turning around to face the new threat in their rear. Nate wasted no time.

He grabbed the pipe-pistol in his left hand and his 10mm in his right and dashed into an alley near the car. As he put his back to the wall of one of the alley's buildings as the man on the roof opened fire. The bullets pounded into the ground and building, but Nate was unscathed. Another second of firing, and the bullets stopped. Correctly guessing that the man had run through all the rounds in his magazine, Nate leaned out from his position, aimed his 10mm and fired once. The man on the roof fell back, blood spurting from his chest as he screamed out.

He now the the attention of some of the attackers. More of them turned to face him and began firing. He ran to the other side of the alley, away from the street that faced the museum and the distracted siege.

He ran in the direction of the museum and ducked back into another alley. Four of the other attackers were advancing the to alley he was so recently in, unaware he was now behind them. He fired into their backs dual wielding the pistols. They never were able to fire retuning shots as they fell to the ground bleeding and dead.

Now he really had the attention of the attackers, after all, he had already killed almost half of their men. But not all were as dumb as the others and some tried to use tactics. Two attacker ran up around on of the building as the others took positions in the main street while still trying to keep the museum's defender tied down.

Nate took position behind a dumpster. He was trapped. Attackers were on each side of the alley boxing him in. He fired at one of two coming in from behind, hitting him in the leg. The man screamed, and his friend pulled him to the side before Nate could fire off another shot. But as Nate saw a shadow dash across the alley opening towards the two men, he knew they were dealt with.

With the dogs aggressive growls and the men screaming as the beast tore at their flesh, Nate turned back around at those on the main street. Carefully, placing each shot, he fired at the attackers. The seconds turned into minutes. The firefight was going on to long. The men behind him had long stopped screaming, and he already had to put a fresh magazine into the 10mm. He pulled the trigger of the pipe-pistol, but it only clicked. It was empty. Nate tossed it to the side.

He heard a woman yell off to the left of him of the street, and watched as the dog jumped up onto a female attacker, doing to her what it did to the others. They tumbled down and in that moment, the other attackers seemed to have forgotten Nate and turned their attention and guns onto the dog and the woman it was attacking.

Nate moved into action. ' _No way in hell are you shooting that dog!_ ' he yelled in his mind as he dashed out of the the alley and behind the cover of an old barricade in the street, giving the perfect vantage point on the attackers. He fired again and again into them just as the defender of the museum was able to fire as well, free from the suppressive fire of the attacker, helping Nate and the dog. Bullets, teeth and laser beams tore into the attackers.

The attackers panicked and began to loose what little amounts of pathetic organization they had. It made Nate's job all the easier. A few seconds later and the attackers were either dead or close enough to being so that it did not matter.

"There are more coming!" shouted the defender on the balcony pointing the the left of the museum. Nate look and saw over twenty more people, dressed similarly to the attackers they had just killed, rushing through alleys and on the street heading towards the museum. "Quickly, grab that laser musket and get inside!"

Nate wasted no time. He guessed that the laser musket was the strange laser rifle that fell along with the other defender earlier. He grabbed it and the few fusion cells and with the dog at his heels, he opened the door the to museum and ran inside.

As he closed the door behind him, he noticed an old bookcase right next to it. He moved to the side of it and pushed the bookcase in front of the door. The door opened inwards, and this would hopefully buy a few seconds that they might need. But the action brought its own kind of attention.

Before the dust had settled from the downed bookcase, bullets raced through the air, splintering the wood of the walls and bookcase. Nate dived behind a wooden pillar, a bullet grazing his left arm along the way. It stung like hell, but he did not stop to fret about it just then. He peeked around when the bullet fire paused, and saw two more attacker. It had caught him by surprise. He had not realized they were already in the building.

He raised his pistol. There was one on each side. He took out the on on his right first and then fired at the one on his left. They were horrible shots, but he was not and they were easily taken care of.

"Let's go, dog," he yelled at his canine companion. He could hear more firing deeper in the museum. The building was falling apart. Walls and whole sections of floor had fallen. He made his way carefully but quickly through the building, moving higher where he guessed the defender was. He met a few of the attacker along the way. Two he ambushed in a small room as they frantically discussed fleeing the assault. Further up, another two were on a higher balcony floor. One was yelling at someone to open a door, saying it was hopeless for them to resist.

Nate swung around far enough behind them, leaned onto the balcony and fired onto the men. Like the others, they dropped easily enough.

Nate ran up to the door and gave it a bang. "Hey, is anyone in there?" he asked though the solid wooden door sporting a few splintered spots where bullets impacted and had bounced off.

He heard the lock of the door click, but the door did not open. He paused for a moment, his hand on the door knob. He still did not really know if the defender was a real friend. He took in a sharp breath and exhaled. Either way, he needed help if he wanted to find a doctor or supplies for Nora. He listened to his gut, and it told him to go in. Lacking anything concrete to go against the feeling, he opened the door.

And the defender he had seen on the outside balcony had his laser musket aimed right towards him. The defender wore an old style duster and hat. It looked like a member of an old militia than anything else. The defender smiled, and then lowered his gun.

"Thank's for your help," the defender said. "We really needed it."

Nate looked around the room. There were four others present besides the defender. Two women and two men. "Happy I could help," said Nate turning back to look at the Defender. He stretched out his hand. "I'm Nate Williams."

"Preston Garvey," said the defender as he shook Nate's hand. "I'm with the Commonwealth Minutemen."

"Minutemen?" asked Nate.

"You've never heard of the Minutemen? We are defenders of the Commonwealth, coming to aid the settlements at a minute's notice. Or, we use to anyway. I'm afraid that I'm all that left now." There was regret in Preston's voice.

"So is that what your doing here in Concord, defending a settlement?" asked Nate.

"No. I'm escorting the survivors from Quincy. Those damned raiders have been picking us off over the last couple of weeks. We started out with over twenty survivors, but now there's only us. But, maybe if you willing to help us, I can get these people to safety."

Nate hesitated. These seemed like normal people, not like those that had been attacking them. He could understand why Preston referred to them as raiders. But still, he did not know if he should get involved. He had to help Nora. That was his priority, but if these people could help…

"I need a doctor, or at least some good medical supplies," said Nate. "If I help you, can you help me?"

"I don't have any medical supplies, and we lost the only person who could be considered a doctor before we reached Concord, but I do know where we can find a doctor and some supplies. If you help us, then we will help you. I give you my word."

For a second Nate thought about his possibilities. He could take Preston's offer, but he could just threaten them to give him the information. Preston was the only one that seemed capable to fight and if he was taken out, the rest would most likely prove no trouble. No, he threw that though from his mind. The apocalypse and the desperation was trying to worm its way into his mind. He was a soldier. And these were his countrymen, or at least the descendants of his countrymen. A soldier had a duty, and if these people were being honest with him and trusting to him, unless it was absolutely necessary, he should return it in full.

"Alright Preston, you have a deal. So do you have any ideas about how to deal with the guys outside."

"Do you know how to use power armor?" asked Preston. Nate nodded and Preston smiled. "Great! Then Sturges here has a plan." He gestured one of the other men over.

Sturges came over and to Nate he looked like a mechanic. "Alright, so you see, there's a suit of power armor on the roof. Looks like it's been there since the bombs fell. It's next to the crashed vertibird and the vertibird has a functional mini-gun on on. The power armor should be enough to get the gun off, and then those raiders will be nothing to deal with."

"I'm thinking there might be a 'but' coming," said Nate.

"But, the power armor's fusion core is depleted. Now before you say anything, there a good one down in the museum's basement. It's behind a locked door with a terminal on it. Now, I can fix just about anything but I'm no computer hacker. None of us are in fact. So if you can go down there, grab that core, then the rest of the plan falls into place. Sound good?"

To Nate it sounded like he was doing the brunt of the work, but he did not protest. He told them he would go get the fusion core and that is what he did. The computer proved to be no problem. He had hacked plenty in his day, and as those computers were mainly in chinese, and these being in english made the job even easier. The passcode was cracked and the door to the generator was unlocked. A minute later he was back in the room with the others, fusion core in hand.

He left the dog in the room with the others while he and Preston went up to the roof.

"Alright, I will cover you with my musket," whispered Preston. "Try not to get hurt out there."

"No promises," responded Nate with a smirk.

He moved to the power armor. It was covered with dirt and rust, but these things were built to last and he prayed it still worked. Below on the street, he could hear one of the raiders yelling for them to come out and it sounded like some of them were pounding on the door, trying to get in. ' _They're in for a surprise,_ ' thought Nate with a smile. For everything that had happened, and that for him it happened so quickly, he felt surprisingly alive. He knew the shock would eventually come, but right now he could not afford let it affect him.

He pushed the fusion core into the appropriate slot on the back and the armor powered up. It opened up and he stepped inside. It was about noon, and the day was bright and beautiful, but it looked hazy through the armor's helmet, but only just so. He checked his heads-up-display. According the to HUD, the armor was in far from perfect condition and as he moved around a little he noticed it was also a bit sluggish. However, for these raiders, if they were anything like the previous ones, this armor would be more than enough.

He moved to the crashed vertibird halfway submerged into the museum's roof. He grabbed the mini-gun. Sturges said it was in working order so he figured he would see if the man was right.

He stepped up to the edge of the roof. Preston took cover on the edge as well. He let the barrels spin.

"Holy shit!" said a raider that had climbed to the roof of the building across from the museum. "They've got pow-."

Nate fired the mini-gun into the man before he could finished. The bullets shredded threw him and the raider fell down in a wet mess of flesh. That put all of the attention from the raiders on Nate. He did not mind one bit.

He found a target, fired in bursts, and when that target was down he moved to the next. The small arms of the raiders did loudly pinged off the power armor. They did not pose to much of a threat right then, but the armor was in bad shape and it would only be able to take so much. If it was in pristine condition, then they could have fired at him all day to no avail, but that was not the case and Nate knew he had to wrap it up sooner rather than later.

After a few raiders had fallen, the rest fell back further down the street, Preston's more accurate laser fire helping push them back. With some breathing room now between the museum and the raiders, Nate used the power of the armor to jump into the air and off the roof. With a loud thud the armor slammed into the ground, the paved cement of the road buckling underneath his weight forming a small crater.

He charged at the raiders firing his mini-gun, spent shell casing littering the ground in his wake. He came up to one raider, stopped firing and used the strength of the power armor to back hand one of the raiders. The raider sailed through the air into the brick wall of a building. He did not move after that. And for the next minute that is how the fight continued. With Preston providing long range support and Nate alternated between the gun and the sheer power of the armor to destroy the attacking raiders. But still they would not give up. They kept fighting even though there was no way for them to win.

All of a sudden, the raiders stopped fighting as a roar came from underneath the street. In that moment, there was true fear on their faces, fear which they did not have towards Nate and his power armor.

"Deathclaw!" one of the yelled. "We have to get out of here!"

And the raiders' fighting spirit broke and all began running away. As they did the ground shook and one of the sewer grates flew from its position on the street and into the air. Out from the exposed sewer jumped a creature Nate had never seen before in his life, not even in his worst dreams. It looked like a lizard, but it was huge. It was easily ten feet tall with powerful muscles under its skin and foot long sharp looking claws. One raider was too close to it after it emerged and the deathclaw swiped at it as the raider ran. The man was split in two as the beast's claws cut through him like a warm knife through butter.

Nate had seen enough to know that creature had to be stopped. He pulled hard on the trigger and the mini-gun began to spit out countless bullets, but it only seemed to make the creature angry. The deathclaw gave Nate its full attention and charged with a roar. The bullets seemed to only bounce off of it as it closed the distance.

It swiped at Nate, and though he tried to jump to avoid it, he was to slow and he felt himself being thrown off to the side. As he skidded to a stop on his back, he began firing the mini-gun again. And while it seemed to be actually hurting the deathclaw now, it only made the deathclaw move to avoid the bullet storm. He never knew something so big could move so fast, but the creature's speed was incredible. In a zigzag fashion it once again closed the gap, only this time Nate was expecting it and acted accordingly by keeping out of its reach and continuing to fire.

The creature advanced again, and once again Nate pulled on the trigger, but no bullets fired. ' _What? I have plenty of ammo! Don't tell me it fucking jammed!_ ' Regardless of whether it had jammed or there was some other problem, the result was the same. The Deathclaw slammed into him and the both tumbled. Even in the power armor Nate felt his breath knocked out of him. He could taste blood in his mouth. And the deathclaw stood up over him. This was not good.

The creature roared, opening its mouth wide and showing its hideously sharp teeth and a long, ugly tongue. Nate saw his chance! With all the speed he could muster he lunged toward the deathclaw's open mouth and grabbed its tongue. He gave a forceful pull and the tongue came free. Blood soaked his armored glove and arm, mixing in with the blood of the raiders already staining the armor. The triumphal roar of the creature turned into a nightmarish shriek and the create nearly fell back in shocked surprise, but Nate did not hesitate.

Taking advantage of the momentary weakness, Nate charged the creature forcing it to the ground with him on top. With all his might and as quickly as he could, he began to pound into the creatures head. The creature tried to put up a fight, but from its shock and the sudden nature of the attack in general, after a few punches in the deathclaw only twitched. Warnings flashed on the armor's HUD, but Nate had won. Against both the raiders and the creature from Hell.

As though sensing the fight was over, the armor gave up the ghost and it shut down. Nate activated the emergency release and climbed out though the back. The blood of the raiders and deathclaw covered drenched the armor.

He made his way back to the museum. The door was easy to open, as someone had already moved the bookcase out of the way from the inside. He still had his pistol in hand just in case there was a raider inside. Thankfully there wasn't.

The dog barked and came up to Nate as he stepped inside the building, wagging its tail and generally happy to see him.

"I cannot believe what I just saw," said Preston as Nate moved toward him and the others now gathered on the first floor. "That was incredible!"

"It was something alright," said Nate. The adrenaline was wearing off and he was feeling exhausted. "So is everyone is alright?"

"Yeah, we're all good, thanks to you," answered Preston. "Now we can make our way to Sanctuary."

"Sanctuary? You mean Sanctuary Hills?" asked Nate. Preston game him a nod. "Well that's where I actually come from. It's… It's my home."

"You're home? I'm sorry, we thought he place was abandoned, well except a crazy robot that wanders the area." Preston went silent for a moment. "These people need somewhere safe, and we believe Sanctuary is our best shot, but we will not intrude if you don't want us in your home."

' _Or what's left of my home anyway,_ ' he thought. He looked over the desperate people. Were they generally good people? Could he trust them? He had just briefly fought alongside Preston and he had a good feeling about the man, so after a few seconds of internal deliberation, he decided that he could at least give them a chance. He knew that if he and Nora were going to survive in this world and find Shaun, they would need help.

"Of course you can, Preston," answered Nate to an obviously relieved Preston. The mood of the small group lightened a bit as though a new level of certainty, even hope, now existed. "So then, I guess we should get going."

"Hold on a minute, kid," said the older of the two women in the group. "A word, about the journey your about to start on. I've seen your destiny. I know your pain." Her words had an ominous tone to them.

"Mama Murphy," said the other woman of the group. "Don't bother the man." The old old woman ignored her.

"Destiny?" asked Nate.

"You're a man out of time and you have experienced loss. But all is not lost. I can feel…" She struggled for a moment, as though she was trying to grasp onto a concept she did not immediately understand. Then here eyes lit up. "I can feel your son's energy. He's alive."

His heart jumped. How did this woman know about Shaun. An internal storm of questions swelled, but he retained his composure. He did not know what she knew, or if what she said was legitimate and not simply a scam of a very clever con-artist.

"I'm listening," Nate responded calmly.

"Look kid, I know how I sound. The Sight, it's weird. And it ain't always clear. But your son's out there. And I don't need the sight to tell you where you should start lookin'. The great, green jewel of the Commonwealth. Diamond City. The biggest settlement around."

"What's in Diamond City?" asked Nate.

The old woman sighed. "I'm tired now, kid, and we got a long walk to Sanctuary," said Mama Murphy. "Bring me some chems later and that will help the sight paint a clearer picture."

"Mama Murphy, We've talked about this…" said Preston. "That junk is going to kill you."

"Oh, you worry too much Preston," she responded. "And its got us this far, hasn't it."

"Well, I will see what I can do," said Nate, speaking up before Preston could respond. "So Preston, about that doctor…"

"Right," said Preston as he turned to face him. "The doctor is in a settlement a ways to the east from here. He owes me a favor and I would be happy to use that favor to help you. So if you help me get these settlers to Sanctuary, then you and I can go over there and get his help. Sound good?"

"Sounds great," said Nate immediately not wanting to was time. "Let's get going then.

-)(-

Nate, Preston and the settlers reached the bridge to Sanctuary a couple hours later. They were burdened with as much as they could carry. It was not luggage they had brought with them from Quincy. Rather, they were had looted as much as they could carry from the dead raiders. Guns, bullets, cloths, shoes, etc., and all taken regardless of the condition. Sturges had summed it up best to Nate. Everything has value in the Commonwealth. He had even taken a rusty saw and cut off some of the deathclaw's claws. Apparently that was worth a good amount of change to some of the traders.

They unloaded all of the stuff in the house across from Nate's a few minutes later. There were various workbenches set up around it already. Nate figured it belong to someone who tried to set up shop well after the bombs fell, since they were not there before.

Nate dropped the extra gear that he was carrying rather unceremoniously on carport. "I'll be back in a few minutes," he said to the group, Preston in-particular. "I have to go check on something and then we can head out." Preston gave him a nod and Nate set off for the the root cellar.

He opened the cellar door and jumped in his skin. Codsworth was right there, inches away from where the door was on the inside. "God, Codsworth. You nearly gave me a heart attack."

"I'm sorry, sir," apologized Codsworth. "I detected a small group entering the neighborhood, and I did not realize you were with them."

"No, it's okay. You were protecting Nora. How is she?" He stepped into the cellar and closed the door behind him. The lights were turned off. A second later they clicked on, thanks to Codsworth.

"She seems to be fine but has not yet woken up I'm afraid. But we have had no troubles to speak of since you have been gone."

"Alright, well that's good at least. So, there were people in Concord, like you said. I helped them out and one of them said he knew a doctor not too far from around here. If you don't mind watching Nora a little longer, I'm going to go with him to bring the doctor back here."

"I will gladly watch the Mrs., sir. But do be careful out there."

'Thanks, Codsworth. I will be. Oh, and the other people that came with me. They seem like decent folk, but don't let them down here, alright."

"No worries, sir. I will not let the two of you down." He gave a little salute. Nate gave him his thanks again and headed back out the door, closing it behind him.

"Alright, I'm ready to go," he said to Preston a minute later when he returned the the house with the settlers.

"Good, but before you go, you should probably put on those." Preston pointed to a pile of leather garments on the ground separated the the rest of the stuff they brought with them. "It's only made of leather, but a little armor is better than no armor, right?"

"I'd definitely agree to that," said Nate as he moved to the armor and began putting in on. The armor was sectional. A separate piece for all four limbs and the chest.

"So if you don't mind me askin'," began Sturges as he walked over to join Nate and Preston. "You said that this was your home, but I really don't see any fortifications, or.. well anything really except these workbenches. How long have you been around here?"

To Nate, Sturges did not come off as hostile, merely curious. And, he supposed he had some right to be. He gave an internal sigh. He should probably be honest with them if he wanted them to do the same in return. The other settlers all turned from what they were doing and looked at Nate. It seemed as though they were curious as well.

"Well, to begin I should say that the reason I need a doctor if for my wife."

"I was wondering about that," said Preston. "You don't really look in need of one."

"She was shot. In the chest. I used a couple of stimpacks on her, but I want a doctor to look her over. She is in the root sister behind the house over there. She does have a guard, so I wouldn't suggest going and poking around." There was a hint of a threat to is warning. "But as to answer your question, this is our home, but… we haven't really been here in over two-hundred years."

"What?" asked a baffle Sturges. "Two-hundred years. You don't look like any ghoul I've ever seen."

Nate did not know what a ghoul was, but he continued on. "Yeah, well, there's a vault up the hill. We've been in cryogenic storage until someone came in, took our son and shot my wife. Then we escaped and came down here. That was only this morning."

"So wait a minute," interrupted Preston. "Are you saying that you are really from before the bombs dropped?"

"I guess, yeah," said Nate. "We ran to the vault when the news came in that New York and Pennsylvania were hit with nuclear strikes. We barely made it inside before it was too late. We were going down just as a bomb hit a little outside of Boston. To me, because we were frozen almost immediately, the bombs only started a few hours ago."

The settlers and Preston were in complete silence. They just stared at him in near awe at what he just said.

"My God," said Preston. "I can't even imagine."

"Yeah, well, I have other problems to handle now. Now, where is that doctor?"

"That Pip-Boy," started Preston turning back to the task at hand. "It has a map function on it, right?"  
"I guess so. Haven't had much of an opportunity to check it out."

"Can you stretch out your arm and let me access it." Nate did so and Preston began playing with it. "Alright, I've put the coordinates into the settlement on you map, just in case we get separated. I would recommend entering any important location you come across. It could come in handy."

Nate brought his Pip-Boy back to him and looked at the map. He figured the small triangle marked where he currently was. He fiddled with it for a second and managed to mark the area he was currently in as Sanctuary. He then saw where Preston had put in the coordinates for the settlement that the doctor was in: Tenpines Bluff. It was not too far away.

"Alright then," said Nate. "Let's get going." And off they went.

* * *

I hoped everyone liked that chapter. Now to respond to some of the comments I have received:

Xypher1: I think that Nora dying was some of the most wasted potential in the game. It was hard to care for someone you have only know, as the player, for a few minutes. Her death was kind of useless. If they wanted to kill her off, they should have done so later when she and the player had formed some sort of bond. For instance, think of how much it would suck if Valentine died during the game after wandering with him so much. The player would actually feel devastated instead of simply feeling like they should. As for a Nate and his skill set, he is former military of course, but as an officer. Specifically, he is former special forces. A behind enemy lines sort of guy. I think it fits the narrative of him going out into the Commonwealth surround by threats and surviving more plausible. So he knows how to do quite a bit from combat to hacking, etc. And, like you I think it would be interesting if you knew the BoS founder. We shall see, won't we. As for Nora, she is no soldier, but she will play an imporant part. Her skill set revolves around the law, after all, she does have a juris doctor after all. But what she does will be fundamentally different than Nate. And her knowing the man Valentine is based off would be interesting.

jackieredfield: Yes. Her surviving will cause many changes. These changes are minor at first, from dialogue to how events play out being similar to the game, but by the end, the story will be completely different than the game. Oh the plans I have!

Mandalore the freedom: I don't want to give too much away, but take a look above for a little of the background I have come up with for Nate. He may certainly have been involved with Operation Anchorage. Also, I am totally up for suggestions. Just PM me with them. Not going to promise I will necessarily use them, but I bet you have some good ones that could be a lot of fun.

Alright. I will see you all next time with Chapter 3. Please feel to follow, favorite and leave a review if you have something to say. I do this for you guys so let me know your thoughts!


	3. Chapter 3: You Help Me and I'll Help You

Hello Everyone! Here is the next chapter in this growing story. I hope you enjoy and if you do so please favorite and follow! I am excited to how many have already done so and it gives me all the more motivation to write more. Also, please feel free to leave a review and let me know your thoughts!

* * *

Chapter 3: You Help Me and I'll Help You

The sun was quickly setting behind them as Nate and Preston hurried East towards the settlement of Tenpines Bluff. To Nate, the land was so very familiar, yet it was different enough that it was uncomfortable. What plants that were alive were alien to what he had remembered. The noise he heard in the distance from various animals was foreign. The world he had know, at a very basic level, was drastically different.

"Woah, hold on," said Preston quietly as he took hold of Nate's arm to stop him in his tracks. "There ahead of us. You see? It's a radstag."

Nate looked ahead. What he saw was so hideous he could only pity the creature. It had two heads and it looked like six legs, four normal ones and an additional two hanging from its chest. A good part of its fur was gone and in its place looked like warped cysts.

"It's better if we go around," said Preston. "Those things will usually run, but sometimes if they are scared enough they will fight and they hit hard." Preston turned and began walking around the creature, sure to keep a good distance. Nate followed.

"Thanks for the info," said Nate.

"No problem," answered Preston. "There's a lot of things out here that can kill you, so you have to be careful, especially you. The old ghouls say that the wildlife use to be a lot more passive before the bombs dropped. But since then its changed, become more violent."

"Ghouls?"

"Yeah. A lot of them are just people like us, but they've been exposed to so much radiation that its changed them. They loose their hair and some of their skin. You'll know them when you see them. A few lost their minds too and have gone feral. Those you have to stay away from or kill, or they'll kill you. But the sane ones are alright. Some of them are even from before the bombs dropped, like you, though they've lived through everything since."

Nate thought about that for a moment. Seeing a bomb drop had been terrifying, but having to live through it, scarred in mind and body to such an unimaginable extent? Not to mention having to see everything you had ever known be destroyed or decay. At least with him and Nora, it was over in a flash. It was almost like a silver lining. It was quick.

"So, before the bombs dropped, you were a soldier, right?" asked Preston.

"Yeah, I was in the army. But I got out before the bombs dropped."

"So did you fight against China when you were in the army?" asked Preston rather enthusiastically

"I did some," answered Nate.

"Some. The way I've heard it is that everyone back then was fighting against them. The old country was in a serious war with them."

"There was a war, but it wasn't to that extent. Honestly, to most of the people in the country it was like the war wasn't even going on. People don't really care about war unless they can see it. Out of sight, out of mind."

"So what did you do in your time in the army?"

"Well," said Nate. "I actually enlisted when I was in college. I went to a school up in New York and I joined to help pay for it."

"You didn't have to fight when you were in school?"  
"Nope. I joined the 108th Infantry Regiment, which was part of Eastern Commonwealth's national guard. Every few weeks I would have to go in for training for a couple of days on the weekends, and a full two weeks out of the year, but that was it."

"So you fought after you got out of school?"

"Yeah I did. When I got out I went to ranger school." Nate saw a confused look on Preston's face. "Ranger school is a combat leadership course oriented towards small unit tactics. Some called it the toughest combat school in the entire world. The things we had to do… it was really something." Nate gave a small smile remembering everything they had to endure.

"It's doesn't sound like it was something just anyone could do. So what did you do when you completed it?"

"Well I was given a commission as an officer, and then they sent me to Alaska in '73," said Nate. "That was really where most of the fighting was at the time, and it was more or less a standstill. My unit was tasked with going behind enemy lines, retrieving information, removing key personnel, anything that would help us and hurt the Chinese. The power armor really helped in that. It was the same model of the suit I used in Concord that was first used there. It wasn't really too good for sneaking around, but it was really effective at causing havoc."

"There's suppose to be this statue in the Capital Wasteland, err, I think you might know it as Washington, D.C., that's of these soldiers after the old country retook Alaska. Were you part of that?"

"You know, I was actually in D.C. when they unveiled. But no, I wasn't. I was only in Alaska for a short period of time, just a little over a year. In '74 they sent my unit to the Chinese mainland. It was a hellhole over there. Enemies around every corner and the power armor we had wasn't as useful as we would have liked. We were bogged down, under constant fire. Our supplies line were virtually nonexistent."

"So what happened?" asked Preston.

"Well that's where my unit came in," said Nate. "We were constantly behind the lines of the small territory we controlled over there. There was no rest, only fighting. Everything we did in Alaska was done a thousand fold in China. We destroyed everything we could to keep our boys back behind the lines holding something resembling a chance. For two years it was constant going. Then in '76 command sent over some new power armor, T-51b. It changed everything. We were gaining territory everyday. The navy has also managed to gain some type of supremacy near the coast and supplies came rolling in. Then my unit was ordered to come back home."

"So that's when you got out of the army?"

"No. We were sent to Canada and then down to Chicago to handle unrest. I left the army after that."

"Unrest?" asked Preston. "I've really only heard about the war and how great everything use to be. What did you have to do with handling unrest?"

"If you don't mind Preston, it's not something I really want to talk about right now." Nate had a serious, guarded tone to his voice. He was working with Preston and he liked Preston, but he was not wanted to talk about those experiences right now. While for Preston the war with China and everything else was distant history, to Nate, it was still fresh. When it had been war against the clear enemy, it never bothered him. But when that war turned against his own people… No, that was something he did not think he could ever escape from.

"It's no problem" said Preston in good spirits. Nate was thankful he was alright with it.

They continued along their way as the light faded more and more and day turned to night. The last rays of the sun disappeared as they reached the top of a hill.

"There," pointed Preston.

Nate looked on. There were a few small, old shacks and a few fields with some crops that, at least in this light, did not look the best. There were three people standing around a fire and cooking spit, roasting some sort of meat. They were too far away to make out too much, so they proceeded to move towards the settlement.

"Hello there," called out Preston as they reached the outskirts of the settlement. Immediately, the three settlers jumped to action! As Preston's call faded, the settlers had their guns up and pointed strait at Nate and Preston, anger and fear clearly in their eyes. "Hold on there," said Preston calmly. Nate went for his pistol, but Preston gave him a look that told him not to. "Doctor Yates, it's me, Preston."

A flicker of realization went through the three. The man in the middle, older than the man and woman standing next to him spoke up as he lowered his rifle. He was a lean and worn with thin, greying hair. "Jesus Christ, Preston. You nearly got yourself shot. What the hell are you doing sneaking up on us like that?"

Nate thought the man was being a bit foolish. They did not sneak up and Preston gave a clear call to them as they approached. Something else was going on here.

"What happened, Doc?" asked Preston as if reading Nate's thoughts. "And what happened to your leg?" Nate looked down at the man's leg. He was favoring it as he stood and it was bandaged.

"Raiders, that's what," said the Doctor. "Come over here next to the fire and we'll talk." Nate and Preston accepted the invitation and moved toward the fire.

"Doc," started Preston. "Where's everyone else?" The doctor pointed over next to one of the fields. There were three posts standing over three fresh graves. "There's only three there. They are were seven of you. Doc, who's missing?"

"Those bastards took her!" said the young man standing next to the doctor. "They attacked us yesterday, while me and my sister were out. They killed everyone, shot our uncle in the leg and took Jessica."

"Calm down, Bobby," said the doctor.

"Dammit, uncle," started Bobby. "Like I was saying before Preston showed up, we need to go after her. We know where they are. Susan and I can take care of them. We have to at least try, uncle."  
"The only thing you would do is get you and Susan killed, and I'm not about to let that happen."

"But, uncle," said Susan. "She's our cousin and your daughter."

"Which is why I will be going by myself tomorrow morning," said the doctor.

The other two started to protest, but Nate interrupted. "I think that would be a bad idea," he said quieting the others.

The doctor gave him a strong look. "And who the hell are you? Some Vault dweller?" he said due to the vault suit Nate was wearing.

"You said you knew where these raiders were?" Nate asked ignoring the doctor's question.

"They're based up in the old Corvega Assembly Plant," said Bobby.

"And these raiders, Preston, are they like those that were in Concord?"

"Well," started Preston. "If those Raiders that took Jessica are from the plant, then they're actually part of the same group."

"You gonna answer my question, son? And why are you here?" asked the doctor with obvious irritation.

"I'm Nate. I'm from Sanctuary Hills a ways west of here."

"His wife needs to have a doctor look at her," said Preston. "I told him that you owed me a favor and could hopefully take a look."

"I hate to disappoint you Preston, but we both know that I can do that right now." The doctor turned to face Nate. "And Nate, I know what it's like to have a sick wife that needs attention, but I have to go after my daughter. If we make it out of there alive, then I can come look at your wife. That's the least I can do for Preston."

"And like I said, that would be a bad idea," said Nate again.

"And just exactly how is me going after my daughter a bad idea, huh?"

"How fast do you think you can make it too the Corvega plant, with your leg like it is?" asked Nate.

"I'll manage," answered the doctor.

"You'll manage?" asked Nate. "And how good are you with the rifle in your hands? I've seen how these raiders are, and so have you. Do you really think you stand I chance against them with a bum leg?"

"That's really not your concern, son," answered the doctor.

"Well you see, doctor, I disagree with that," stated Nate. This morning my wife was shot in the chest and she's hurt. She needs a doctor and you seem to be the only doctor around here. So she needs you, Doctor Yates."

"And what about my daughter? Are you really suggesting that I abandon her."

"No, sir. I am not. If you go right now to Sanctuary and help my wife, then I will go to the plant and get your daughter."

"Nate," said Preston. "I get what your trying to do, but that plant is in Lexington. Up until recently that entire place was a raider stronghold and now its filled with those feral ghouls I was talking about. All except for the plant which is ruled by one of the worst raiders that there is. It's a death sentence to go there. Even if all of us went."

Nate looked at Preston and considered his warning. Then he turned back to the doctor. "Do we have a deal, doc?"

"My daughter might not even be alive."

"Either way, those raiders won't be when I'm through with them. So do we have a deal?"

The doctor sat back for a moment and stared at Nate while thinking. "I think you're going to get yourself killed, but yeah, your right. I'm in no condition to go after them. If you go, then I will go to your wife and do all I can." He turned to his niece and nephew. "Go get my supplies. We're going."

"And I will too," said Nate. "Preston, do you think you can get these people back to Sanctuary?"

"There's no way I'm letting you go off by yourself," said Preston. "You need someone to watch your back."

"Do you know how to get to Sanctuary, doc?" asked Nate.

"The place with the crazy robot? Yeah, I know how to get there."

"Then let's get going Preston. Doc, we will see you there." And like that, off each group went.

-)(-

The night was dark and full of terrors. As Nate stood overlooking the ruins of Lexington and the Corvega assembly plant, the noises of strange, horrible beasts filled the air. The sounds of large beast could be heard in the distance, but from the small city itself there was another type of noise altogether. Almost like a continuous screech echoed by many.

"Feral ghouls," said Preston. "There's tons of them there now."

"Where did they come from? You said it use to be a raider stronghold."

"I don't know. They might have been holed up in the sewers. A lot of people hid there when the bombs dropped. With the radiation levels as high as they were, they may have stayed in there thinking they were safe only to turn into ghouls and lose their minds."

"I imagine being stuck in sewers like that would do that to you," said Nate. "Alright then. Those raiders aren't really trying to hide their presence, are they?" The plant was lit up like a Christmas tree. He could make out a few walking around on the catwalks.

"Nope. They don't think anyone besides the ferals are crazy enough to attack them there."

"Well let's enlighten then, shall we?"

"What's your plan?"

"How could are you with close-quarters combat, Preston?"

"I can hold my own, but I'm better with my musket at a distance."

"Okay," said Nate as a plan formed in his hand. "So do you see the tree over there on the outskirts of the assembly plant." Preston nodded. "Set up there. It has a good vantage point over most of the plant. I'm am going to sneak up on that entrance in the front where those six or so raiders are. When I start the attack I need you to give me support. Take out any that you see and are a threat."

"And what about once you get inside?"

"Then I will save the girl. Don't worry, I'll be fine. I've gone against worse."

"And what should I do once your inside?"

"After I get inside, change position just in case they try to find you from where they saw you shooting. The place is up to you, depending on what sort of threat you face. Just keep a good eye on the place. You ready?"

"As ready as I'm going to be," answered Preston with a smirk.

They went their separate ways.

-)(-

' _Thankfully it's night,_ ' thought Nate as he snuck up on the group of raiders. He had been worried that the blue vault suit might have given him away, but either he was lucky or the raiders were too stupid to notice. He came to a crouch on a concrete staircase the led up to the main landing of the entrance where the raiders were huddled, arms crossed trying to shake off the cold and warm up next to the fire barrel that crackled softly. Overhead on the catwalks, more raiders walked back in forth. Nate did not have a precise count, but there were at least a couple dozen just on the exterior. He wondered how many were on the inside.

As the six raiders talked amongst themselves, Nate spotted a turret placed above them on a makeshift platform. Thankfully it did not appear to be a very high quality one. Raiders that were higher up would have a vantage point on him once he began, so he had to move quickly and hope Preston would do a good job at keeping any that did threaten him away.

Nate reached into one of his belt's pouches and pulled out a grenade. It was one of the few things he looted from the dead in Concord along with some more ammo, stimpacks and even some rad-x. If he had more time, he could have done some more with what he gathered, improved his armor a bit, but there simply was not enough time. His heart began to beat faster and faster as the seconds ticked by. He was ready. He pulled the pin from the grenade and threw it over towards the group of raiders.

"What the fu-!" yelled one of the raiders as the grenade bounced to a stop right beside the group, but the explosion cut him off as shrapnel cut through them.

Nate leaned out of cover and began firing his 10mm pistol aiming for the turret first. After a few rounds hit it, it malfunctioned and powered down, a plume of smoke escaping from it. He could hear other raiders higher up yelling about the commotion and most likely heading their way to provide support. Luckily for Nate, he also started to hear the familiar sound of Preston's musket sounding off in the distance followed by more screams from the raiders up above. Flashed of red from the firing musket flew through the air.

Nate jumped from cover and ran over the the entrance. Of the six raiders initially guarding it, one was still alive. The wounded raider desperately tried to push one of his dead fellows off of him as Nate closed the distance. Nate aimed and fired the pistol again, hitting the man in his head. He ran over the dead bodies, careful not to slip in the growing pool of blood, and skidded to a stop in front of the dull blue doors that served as the entrance to the plant. He grabbed the handle and gently pulled open the door and making sure he could not be seen as he did so. Gunfire exploding into the door, pinging off the thick metal. He slammed it shut. The gunfire stopped.

' _Not good,_ ' he thought. ' _What to do?_ ' An idea popped into his head. He pulled out another grenade, his last one, and pulled the pin. "What the hell!" he yelled at the door. "Let me in before this bastard kills me!"

"Well, fuck," came a female from inside the main lobby. "Hurry the hell up!"

Nate smiled. He cracked the door opened, again careful not to show himself, and tossed in the grenade. He heard the woman inside curse and then the explosion inside, the shockwave hitting hard against the door. Nate swung inside and jumped though the opening. The woman had survived the explosion, but as she saw him she raised her two pistols. He raised his own faster than she did and fired twice, each shot hitting her in the chest. He took cover behind some rubble to the side.

He could hear more raiders yelling from deeper inside the building. He was in, but he had no idea where the girl was. He needed to find out where. He did not want to be wandering aimlessly throughout the old building filled with enemies.

He heard some raiders coming straight for the plant's lobby. Nate rushed to the door, putting his back against the wall just as two raiders ran into the room though the open doorway. They did not even see him, more focused on their dead compatriot laying on the ground with two bullet holes in her chest. Their second of being distracted was all the time Nate needed as looked them over from behind.

He bounced from the wall and brought down the butt of his pistol on the raider to the right while he used his arm to grab the other one at the same time. The man that was hit with the gun went down as the sound of his skull cracking reverberated around the room. Nate choked the other raider with all his strength as the man clawed at his arm and kicked wildly in the air. The vault suit protected his arm and the man went still after a few more long seconds as Nate squeezed harder and harder.

He gently lowered him to the ground, careful to make as little noise as possible. He quickly checked the other raider he had hit with the gun. He was dead. While the other one was still unconscious he looted all of them, dead and alive. A double-barrel shotgun and a handful of bullets for it and a combat knife that had been well taken care of. It was the only thing of real value on them and he took it all, putting the knife in his belt. He also holstered his pistol. He preferred the shotgun if he had to use a gun in the close quarters of the building.

He went back to the raider he had chocked out. The man was breathing easily, but as Nate stilled and listened, he could hear the distant steps of approaching raiders, the steps growing louder. He had hoped to find out where the girl was from the downed raider, but that was no longer a viable option. With as much racket as he had caused, the lobby would not be a safe place for an interrogation. He drew the knife from his belt and cut the raider's throat.

He moved quickly and quietly. He exited the lobby and entered the hallway moving in the direction he heard the steps. As he moved, the steps he heard earlier became louder. There was only one person running at him, and they were as noisy as one could be. Nate darted from the hallway into a small dark room that looked like a storage closet just as he heard the person to him running to turn a corner in the hallway. Nate readied himself. The person running came closer and closer, and just as he was about to pass, Nate leaned out, the shotgun firm in his grasp. Sure enough it was another raider, and Nate brought the butt of the gun against the man's jaw, knocking him down, his face hitting the wall hard and then he slid to the ground. Nate turned the man over.

' _Damn,_ ' he idly thought as he looked him over. He had him him too hard and Nate could see his jaw was clearly shattered. He would not be able to tell him anything. As he did with he other raider, he drew his knife and quickly cut the man's throat. The unconscious man did not even notice. He searched man's body for anything useful. The man had a crowbar and what looked like a molotov cocktail. He searched a little more and found a lighter so he left the crowbar and took the cocktail from the man's pack on his back and lighter. He wanted to take the pack but he did not want to risk the time it might take to get it off, so he left it.

With the cocktail in one hand and the shotgun in the other, he continued his way though the complex until he came to a staircase. On one side of the hall the stairs went up and on the other side they went down, going down to the basement. Before he could decide which way to go, the thundering feet of a good number of men coming down the stairs ruled out the 'up' option immediately.

Nate rushed to the downward leading stairs, going down a few steps and stopping. He was far enough along he was hidden from the raider's immediate few as they came of the stairs. He knew there were a good few of them and that he only had one chance. He put the shotgun down, leaning it against the wall and pulled the lighter out from his belt. He flicked it and the rag stuffed inside the bottle ignited easily. He waited.

The raider group came to a stop at the bottom of the stairs on the main floor. "Alright boys," said one of the raiders who seemed to be in charged. "We got damn ghouls coming through the walls and some crazy bastard attacking our castle."

"You think they're related, boss?" asked one of the other raiders.

"I ain't sure, but we sure as hell-." Nate cut him off as he exposed himself and threw the cocktail at the group as they were gathered together. The seven or so men did not have time to notice him as the bottle hit one of them in the back, and the lot burst into flames. They screamed and tried to get away from the flames, but they were too slow. They were all too close, and all equally fated.

Nate moved to rush pass the burning men, a few of which were still moving, and up the stairs, but before he stirred, he heard shouts coming from above. He had taken a chance with the cocktail in alerting others, but to knock out so many it had been worth the chance. He decided that as for right now, going up was not an option so he turned around and headed down hoping to find the girl or at least information.

He searched the lower floor of the plant and surprisingly did not see or hear any raiders come running to the screams of their burning comrades. But then he began hearing the unmistakable sound of gunfire coming further in. Carefully, he made his way to the noise.

A moment later, he leaned against the wall next to a door cracked open. The clattering of gunfire was coming from the room just beyond. He dared a peek, and saw six raiders were firing at a wall. At first he was confused, but then as he realized what they were shooting at, he became alarmed.

As quickly as they could, the raiders fired at ugly creatures literally coming through the wall. The creatures looked liked decrepit and rotting humans. Their movements were almost animalistic and he realized he was seeing the feral ghouls Preston had spoken about earlier. As quickly as the ghouls climbed through the hole in the wall, they were gunned down by the raiders. A pile of their bodies were already in front of the hole, but those that came after merely pushed through them.

The raiders fired wildly, no coordination between them causing them to waste ammo as they went along. They seemed to have the situation in control for the time, but then one of the raiders yelled and turned to his left and begin firing. Nate could see at what, but as three ghouls rushed into view as the raider fired at them, he realized the the room had been breached in more than one area and that had gone unnoticed by the defending raiders.

Another raider turned to fire at the rushing ghouls, but they efforts were in vain. The ghouls slammed into the first raider, knocking him to the floor. They wasted no time and begin tearing into the man's flesh with hands and teeth while the man screamed. The other raiders began to panic as the sound of more ghouls from the other breach sounded in the air. Their distraction allowed those in the initial hole to push through and rush the defenders. The raiders fired wildly, panic in their voice as they yelled at the ghouls and each other. The ghouls had no strategy. They just ran straight for the raiders but they had the numbers to keep their assault alive.

Nate watched calmly as another raider, and then another went down. He decided it would be a good time to leave. But as he thought this, so did one of the raiders who had turned to abandon his fellows to their fate. He ran to the door, swung it open and stepped through it, to fast for Nate to get out of sight, but the raider in his panic did not even notice him. He swung the door closed behind him and quickly took a ring of keys from his pocket. Nate just stayed still as the man's shaking hands found the right key. He slammed it into the lock and with a click secured the door. A fraction of a second later a body impacted the door and another raider shouted and cursed to be let though. His demands for help turned to screams as ghouls tore into his flesh and his blood spilled onto the floor and under the door.

The raider that had locked the door stepped back at this, and only then did he notice Nate. Nate connected his hand with the man's throat with a sharp jab and the man fell onto his ass, coughing and grabbing his throat.

Nate jumped on top of the man and struck his head once and then again. "Where's the girl?" Nate seethed at the raider.

"What the fuck," said the raider in a coarse voice, air barely making it through his throat.

Nate hit the man again in the head then brought out his knife. The raiders eyes went wide when he saw the blade. "The girl from Tenpines Bluff that you took yesterday." The man hesitated, so Nate put his hand over the man's mouth and stabbed his leg. The man yelled and fought, but Nate had him secure.

"Shit, man," said the raider angrily. "She's… she on the top floor with Jared, alright? So just let me go!"

Without missing a beat, Nate slit the man's throat and stood up. He could hear the ghouls feasting on the fallen raiders on the other side of the door and did not doubt that they could make short work of the closed door if they put his mind to it. So, knowing at least the general direction of where he needed to go, he set off. As he turned the corner of the hall back towards the staircase, he could hear the ghouls beginning to bang of the door. He hurried his pace.

He made it back to the first floor. He could hear faint gunfire from various parts of the plant. He gripped the shotgun. ' _Time to hit them hard,_ ' he thought. Killing quietly had its uses, but with everything going on, and the threats of the ghouls that could crash in at any moment, he needed to find the girl quickly and be loud if necessary. He rushed up the stairs passed the still smoking bodies he had burned earlier.

On the second floor he could hear more gunshots. As he moved to the third, he wondered how the ghouls had breached the plant so effectively, if it was the ghouls. With a leap he hit the third floor a second later, right next to three raiders. They were as surprised to see Nate, with the blue vault suit, land on their floor as Nate was to see them. But Nate was ready for a fight while the raiders were caught off guard, their backs toward him. He blasted the shotgun on the closest raider, and then used the second round on raider next to him. With both rounds of the shotgun exhausted, he lunged at the last raider with the butt of the shotgun. The raider was quicker than the other two, and swung back, causing Nate to barely miss. The raider, with his pistol already in hand, aimed and fired at Nate. The shot grazed Nate's arm as he closed the distance, dropping the shotgun and using one hand to grab the wrist of the raider's hand that held the pistol and balled his other hand into a fist and slammed the man hard in the side where his kidney was. The man hollered in pain and let go of the pistol and Nate took advantage of his disoriented state and knocked him down on the floor. Before the man could get back up, Nate brought his foot down on his head, stilling him. His chest raised a couple more times in quick succession, then ceased.

He quickly searched the man's body, happy to find a few round for his 10mm pistol, and moved to go up another flight of stairs. The flight turned out to be the last set and Nate found himself in a hallway. He moved to the end and peeked through the doorway that lacked a door.

"Alright you bastards," yelled a raider that stood on the balcony of a modular office overlooking a part of the actually assembly plant. "You make sure nothing gets in here, understand. I'll have your heads if you fail!"

Nate guessed the man was the 'Jared' the other raider had spoken of. Nate scanned the room. There was a couple of rotating spotlights and a turret on top of the office. A few raiders were at fixed positions while a some other moved around the large room. Light was dim though most of the area, so when he saw an opening, Nate darted into the darkness, moving past the partially assembled Corvegas and the various materials once used to build them. The defending raiders that were walking around were far outmatched by Nate in this setting. After five minutes had gone by, the four raiders that had been moving around were dead on the ground with their throats cut or their necks broken.

Nate found a good spot and surveyed the other raiders. These three that were left were in fixed positions around the office, plus Jared, and hopefully the girl, inside the office. The turret also looked like another poor made piece of machinery. Burst of gunfire grew loudly from out of the room and down the stairs. It seemed as though the raiders were losing ground to the ghouls. Nate did not have much time. He moved back to one of the raiders he had already killed in silence. He picked up the dead woman's pistol and checked the magazine. It was full. He moved back to a position and settled on a simple plan.

"Hey," said one of the raiders on guard. "Where the hell are all of you out there?" he asked to the now dead raiders whom he had finally realized were missing. The other raiders perked up at this question and looked around.

' _Well I guess I better give them an answer,_ ' thought Nate as he leaned over a partially constructed Corvega and began to fire. With one pistol he aimed for the turret and with the other at the raider that had asked the question. A few rounds later the turret was up in smoke, the raider was dead and the others were scrambling. They fired at Nate's position, but Nate had already begun to move. He oped fire again with his 10mm and another raider was down. Jared had yet to come out of the office, but the last raider acted fearless as he stood fully exposed on the catwalk leading to the office and fired at where he thought Nate was. The raider wielded what sounded like a submachine gun and fired with some precision. Nate leaned out of cover and took aim, but the raider had sharp eyes and spotted him. Nate fired short and new as he pulled the trigger that it was a miss, but while the bullet missed the raider, it hit something else.

A fiery explosion rumbled through the assembly room and a fire ball lit it up for a brief second. Nate looked from cover after the flash dissipated and saw the shredded remains of some kind of tanks on fire behind the raider's flaming corpse now hanging over the rail of the catwalk. Nate thanked the lucky shot and moved to the catwalk carefully, which was luckily still intact after the explosion. All that was left was Jared and then hopefully, he would be able to get out of here with the girl, if she were still alive.

The door to the office overlooking the assembly room was shut. As Nate slowly approached, he could hear nose that sounded like someone struggling coming from inside. He glanced toward one of the office windows. They were open and presented the best opportunity to resolve whatever threat was waiting for him inside where he was sure Jared was waiting. Jared put his shotgun down and unholstered his pistol. The office was not large, and if the girl was in there along with Jared he did not want to risk injuring her. He took a deep breath and readied himself.

He felt the projectiles from the shotgun blast tear into his skin before he heard it rip through the air and the thin office wall. Nate was knocked back and onto his side. His left arm and side felt like they were on fire. Suddenly, before he could move, the door to the office busted open and out stormed Jared with a combat shotgun in hand. The leader of the Corvega raiders wasted no time, and lined the shotgun right at Nate's head. Nate brought up his pistol and fired blindly, managing to hit Jared in the arm, causing the shotgun to jerk and the following shot missing Nate by a less than comfortable margin. The raider roared at Nate who was getting to his knees, and Jared kicked Nate in the side, increasing the pain already caused by the shotgun damage.

Nate felt his breath knocked out of him as the raiders boot made contact with him. He was pushed back a few feet and struggled to his feet, only to have the raider body slam him. The raider was easily stronger and bigger than Nate, and the force of the impact knocked Nate over the railed balcony around the office and he fell to the ground below.

Nate let out a cry as he landed on his back. Pain flooded through his thigh and he lifted his head to see the cause of it only to see a large piece of twisted metal from one of the tanks that had exploded earlier sticking through his right leg with a crimson coat of blood.

"Well you're a disappointment," taunted Jared from above. He jumped over the railing and landed right beside Nate with a thud. "I was really hoping-"

The sound of Nate's 10mm firing stopped the raider from talking as a bullet tore into the man's stomach as Nate moved his gun up. He fired again a second later striking the man in his head. Jared fell backwards with a look of shock on his face.

Nate took a couple of quick, short breaths as he turned over trying to ignore the pain. He grabbed the piece of metal sticking though his leg and pulled it out with a grunt. Blood started pouring out and he quickly took a stimpack from his belt and injected it into his leg. The wound began healing as soon as he finished pushing the plunger. He took another stimpack out and injected it in his arm healing the immediate damage from the shotgun blast earlier. Luckily that one was not very serious, though it was painful.

After a minute he stood up, testing his weight on his once injured leg and sighed as he did not feel anymore pain from it. He walked over the dead Jared, a look of shock still on his face.

"You shouldn't waste your time killing someone by trying to talk to them," he said as he knelt down beside the man and began looting the body. He found a grenade, a few stimpacks and a dozen shotgun shells, but his biggest prize was the combat shotgun itself still clasped in the dead raider's grip. Nate took it and the rest of the stuff and made his way to the office.

He was on high alert as he slowly made his way to the now open door. He did not want to take any chances and blindly walk into the room if there was even a chance another enemy was still there. With his new shotgun in hand he entered the room, carefully searching for any possible enemy. But there were thankfully no more raiders. There was only a girl, naked, gagged and tied to a filthy bed. Her red hair was matted with grime and sweat.

Bruises covered her body. He knew that she had been through hell since the raiders had captured her. A even higher level of hate rose in him towards the raiders he had been fighting. To have done this… He wish he would have been more brutal in removing them from this world.

But for as much as the girl had surely been through, she was awake and staring at Nate with her piercing blue eyes. Her eyes were not filled with fear but with a burning anger. He rushed over to her.

"Jessica," said Nate as he bent down over her and started to untie the dirty rag that served as he gag. "My name is Nate. Your father, Dr. Yates, sent me to get you." The furious anger dimmed in her eyes as she came to the realization that Nate was there to help her.

"Did you kill him?" she asked him as the gag was removed. Her voice was hoarse, as though she had not had anything to drink in quite a while.

"The raider leader, Jared?" asked Nate as he moved to undo the restraints to her arms and legs. She gave him a nod. "Yeah, I killed him and a few of his friends too."

She sighed. "Thank Christ."

Nate finished freeing her, and she got off the bed slowly, allowing her muscles to stretch. Jessica moved over to a pile of possessions in the corner of the office, and pulled a few pieces of clothing out and quickly put it on. Nate guessed they were the clothes she had been wearing when she was brought here.

"Is there anything you need? A stimpack or something?" Nate watched the girl move over to a desk and grab a half full bottle of vodka.

"This is all I need right now," she answered holding up the bottle. Then she popped the cork and took a few swallows before putting it back in.

"Alright then," said Nate as he went around the room searching for anything valuable. Various meds from stimpacks and buffout as well as a few items he did not recognized labeled 'jet.' Next to the desk was a backpack that was in good condition and Nate spent a few seconds throwing anything that looked valuable into it.

He also found a loaded pipe-pistol and held it up for Jessica to see. "Do you know how to use this?"

"Of course," she responded as she came over and took it out of his hand.

A few shots could be heard from somewhere inside the building. "Good," said Nate. "Cause you might need to use it.

Another minute later and they were ready to go. Nate led and Jessica followed. The girl impressed Nate and he hoped she would be able keep it up until they made it to Sanctuary.

They moved to the hallway that Nate had used to enter the room, but as a loud burst of gunfire spouted off a little further down, Nate and Jessica came to a halt. Nate looked around the room for another way out.

"That elevator works," siad Jessica pointing to a closed elevator near the entrance of the hallway. "I've seen them use it before."

Nate nodded and moved to the elevator. He motioned for Jessica to wait a few feet back and then he pressed the call button for the elevator. Nearly immediately and with a soft chime the doors opened. No one was inside and Nate motioned Jessica over and they both stepped in the elevator. The control panel was nearly destroyed with only two buttons in working order. Nate hit the top one causing the doors closed and they began to move up.

A few dozen seconds later the door opened to the dark night sky. Nate stepped out and check the surroundings. It was clear and he and Jessica moved out. From where they were, they could make it to the general area the Nate knew Preston should be. They passed a few bodies as they made their way away from the plant. Some looked like they had been attacked by ghouls while other sported the marks of being struck with an energy weapon, hopefully from Preston. Jessica stayed close to Nate as they went down some steps and soon they were far enough way from the plant that he felt somewhat comfortable.

"Keep a lookout for a friend of mine," said Nate. "He should be around here somewhere. Wears a old militia hat and duster."

"You're with Preston?" whispered Jessica.

"Yeah," said Nate. "You know him."

"A bit, but he's the only one that I know of that fits the description," she said with a small chuckle.

Nate looked back at the girl. He doubted she was over twenty, and to hear her chuckle after what she had been through…Well, it gave him insight into the world that he was really now apart of. One that was more harsh and cruel in some ways than he was used to. It was almost unnerving.

A whistle sounded through the air and both Nate and Jessica went completely still. Nate strained his ears and eyes to find the source. After a few seconds, his eyes found his target. Preston was standing next to an old tree. Nate pointed him out to Jessica and they made their way over to him.

When they came up to him, Preston sported a few scratches on his face. A few feet behind him laid a few bodies. Some were raiders and others were ghouls. Easily over a dozen.

"You alright, Preston," Nate asked as stopped in front of him.

"I am," he responded. "They should have known better than to mess with a minuteman." He moved close to Jessica and gave her a hug. "I'm glad you are alright, Jessica."

"Thanks to this guy," said Jessica gesturing to Nate.

Preston turned to face Nate. "I could hear the chaos you caused from here. It sounded like a serious firefight."

"It wasn't just me attacking those raiders," said Nate. "There were some of those feral ghouls you were talking about too."

"Well at least you made it out safe, though it looks like you took your share of the beating." Preston pointed to Nate's left side were the vault suit sported a good number of holes from where the shotgun blast had hit him."

"You should see the other guys," responded Nate as he looked around the area. "We should get back to Sanctuary."

"But my father's in Tenpines Bluff," protested Jessica.

"Him and your cousins abandoned it," said Preston. "They're at Sanctuary with another small group of settlers. It's safer there than in Tenpines Bluff."

"Yeah, so let's get going," said Nate. "We should be able to make there around dawn.

The group of the began to move North to Sanctuary.

"So," started Jessica. "Are you really from a vault?"  
"Its a long story," answered Nate.

"Well we got the time," quipped Jessica with a smirk.

-)(-

Nora awoke with a start. The last memories of a horrible dream flashed through her mind. She was breathing deeply and nearly out of breath. She could feel the cool beads of sweat all over her body. She inhaled and exhaled slowly. ' _A dream,_ ' she thought. ' _It was just a horrible dream._ '

She tried to settle her mind in attempt to allow her to fall back asleep. But as she continued to breath slowly, she began to smell an unfamiliar combination of scents that should not be in her home. Wet earth and mold. She tried to open her eyes, but they were heavy and covered with crust. After a second they fluttered open. She was in a dark room. The only light entering from thin cracks across from her. The yellow light dimly streamed through the dusty darkness. A second later a soft orange glow came to life beside her and it slow rose up from the ground.

"Ma'am," called Codsworth in his unmistakable accent. "Are you alright? Hold on while I get the lights." The robot moved to the side.

"I'm fine, Codsworth," she said as she tried to sit up, but a pain ripped through her chest causing her to almost gasp. "I think… I just had a bad dr-."

Her words were interrupted as the lights came to life. She stared around in bewilderment as she realized she was not in her home. Instead, she was laying on a small bed in what looked like a very small cellar. Confused, she looked around the room and finally to herself. She wore a blue vault suit and there was a small hole in the fabric over he chest. Suddenly, the memories she had just so recently dismissed as a dream came rushing into her mind. The report of the nuclear strikes. Her, Nate and Shaun running to the Vault. Then the bomb. The horrible flash of the bomb as they descended underground. She remembered stepping into the decontamination pod and waving at Nate in the pod across from her. Then… Then Shaun. The memories were barely a blur but she remembered their son being taken away from them by the woman in the hazmat suit and the bald man with a gun. She remember the fear as she watched the blood flow out of her chest as she tried desperately to keep it in. She heard nothing. Felt nothing. Just tried to keep the red in. Then, there was nothing. The next thing she knew she had woken up here in his room.

With shaking hands she touched her wound. Through the hole she cold see the ugly scar that covered the once open bullet hole. She put her hand over her mouth and stayed as still as she could, but she could not hold it. She leaned over the side of the bed and vomited onto the floor. Once. Then again. And then once more until there was nothing left inside to be turned out.

She wiped the bile from the side of her mouth as she struggled to sit up. Finally she managed and after a few labored breaths caused by the pain in her chest, Nora looked up at Codsworth. He was not the robot he remembered. Gone was the polished shine of his metal body. Instead, he was covered with grime and rust, scratches and dents. He looked like he had been through a wreck and worse.

"Codsworth," she asked, her voice a hoarse whisper. "What happened to you? Where are we?"

"Well, ma'am," said Codsworth cheerily. "As for our location, we are in Mr. Stadler's root cellar. As for what happened to me… Well, ma'am, I am afraid that two hundred plus years of the post-apocalyptic environment has not been the kindest mistress to this old Mr. Handy."

Nora stared at Codsworth with a disbelieving look in her eyes. ' _Two-hundred years, plus?_ ' She bent down and heaved again. Nothing came out which made the feeling even worse. Her head was spinning. He had to be mistaken. Surely he had to be!

A thought flashed in her head, but she could grasped onto it though she knew it was important. She shook her head, calming herself. He head snapped back up towards Codsworth. "Where's Nate and Shaun?" she asked with a soft pleading in her voice.

"Mr. Nate told me that Young Shaun… was missing, ma'am. And your husband went to find a doctor and medical supplies for your injury. He left me here and told me to guard you."

Shaun was missing and Nate went to look for a doctor? ' _Two-hundred years._ ' She tried to not let the fear of what the world was like after two-hundred years that now both the most important people in her life were out in. She gave her head a soft shake trying to calm down. She took in a deep breath. Then she stood up and began moving towards the closed cellar door.

"Ma'am, we really should stay down here until Mr. Nate returns," cautioned Codsworth. "He said that there are a few other people in the neighborhood."

"Did he say if they were dangerous?" asked Nora.

"He said they seemed decent, but not to let them down here."

Nora stood still for another moment as she thought. "I have to see it, Codsworth."

"See what, ma'am?"

"The world," she said softly but with a hint of defiance in her voice.

She reached out and opened the cellar doors as she went through them. The early morning sun greeted her and she squinted her eyes as she surveyed her surroundings. The green grass, trees and bushes she had known were dead and brown. The birds that she had always known to sing in the air were missing, their absence giving the neighborhood an eerie quality. The houses were ruins. Holes filled the walls that had been so recently new and bright with fresh paint. Lawn furniture and ornaments were scattered about and the two-hundred years that had passed were reflected in their condition. Nora could feel a great sadness inside of her at seeing what had been lost. Her family had suffered but she knew they were far from alone. But she stayed strong and began moving around the house to the main street. Codsworth moved along behind her.

When she stepped off the lawn and onto the street she could immediately hear a few voices further down. She kept walking. She wanted to see her house. As she took one step after the other, one of the people that was in the neighborhood spotted her, and he called out to the others. A few other heads popped around the corner of the house across from hers and stared at her and Codsworth as they came closer, but Nora did not slow down.

She stopped in front of her house and turned to face it with her back to the small group that watched her in silence. She remembered when they bought the house. All the homes were new and she had been one of the first ones to move in. She had done it all herself. Well her and a few moving men. She had been pregnant and Nate was still in the army, so she had to manage and manage she did. When Nate came home only a few days before she was due with Shaun, she reveled at how his eyes had lit up at their home and her as the taxi dropped him off. She had promised him a home that would be their's and their son's who was on his way. With this home she had wanted to start her family off right, with a solid foundation.

Now that home was in ruins. It was not as bad as some of the others, but it was far from what it had once been. Their were holes in the walls and the windows were either missing or broken. Dirt and grime covered everything and plants grew up along the sides.

She stepped closer and entered through the front door, ignoring the burning pain in her chest. The interior was just as bad as the exterior. Dirt, trash and dust covered the inside. Their furniture was all there, but the years had not been kind to it. She moved to the hallway. At the end and to the left was the master bedroom. What was left of the bed was in shambles. She stepped inside and spotted a picture frame laying facedown on the floor. She picked it up. It was a picture of her and Nate on their wedding day so many years before. The picture was dirty and faded, but their smiles were both still radiant and their eyes filled with promise at what they would build and accomplish together. She placed the picture on the dresser which seemed to barely be standing, then she left the room and crossed the hall into Shaun's.

She could not go too far into the room. The crib and the mobile were there, both having seen better days. Underneath the changing table was a book she had just purchased at the book store. She had been so excited to read it to Shaun. Her heart began to pound when she realized she might never get the chance.

She backed out of the room and turned to go back into the living room. Codsworth was hovering just in front of the bar. It was the same place he had always hovered since they purchased him, always waiting there when they woke up with fresh coffee by his side and a cheerful greeting for them every day. She looked at him, and with his dents and rust, to her he looked like he was sad.

"I am sorry, ma'am," he said. "For years I tried to keep the house clean and well maintained, but… I was not very successful. After all, how do you polish out rust on a car?" The robot sounded dejected, mournful. Nora was taken aback. Robots were not suppose to develop such emotions. Was it real, or was it merely programming?

"It's okay, Codsworth," comforted Nora a second later. "It's the people that matter, not the building."

"Speaking of people, ma'am," said Codsworth as he gestured to the door. Just outside of the home a small group of people stood. Nora saw most of them were armed, some with unusual weapons, but they did not seem very threatening.

"Excuse me," said an older man who stepped forward from the group. He had thin black hair with streaks of grey running through it and soft brown eyes. "You wouldn't happen to be Nate's wife would you?"

"You know my husband?" asked Nora as she stepped out of the house to meet them.

"Just barely," said the man. "He asked me to take a look at your bullet wound. I'm Doctor Ryan Yates." He extended his hand and Nora took it in hers giving it a shake as her other hand went to her chest where she had been shot.

"Where is Nate," she asked looking around. "Didn't he come back with you?"  
"I'm afraid not. In return for me coming here, he offered to take care of some raiders." The way the doctor spoke, it sounded like there was more to it than he was letting on. A brief flicker of sadness went over his eyes.

"What are raiders?" asked Nora.

"Is what your husband said true?" interrupted another woman who stood beside an older woman.

"Well, what did he say?" asked Nora. Everyone was staring at her. All were silent, waiting for her answer.

"That you are from before the bombs fell," said the woman.

"I suppose so," said Nora. She turned and pointed through the window of her decaying home toward the living room. "We were standing right there when the reports came in that the nuclear strikes were beginning. We managed to get to the vault before the one just outside of Boston hit."

Her crowd stared in silence at what they heard. It made Nora a little uncomfortable.

The older woman stepped forward. "This must be very hard for you, kid," she said softly. "Raiders are a group of horrible people that take what they want and kill those who they can. They would have done the same to us in Concord if it hadn't been for your husband. We owe him our lives. He is a good man. I can see it. If there is anything you need, we will do all we can."

The old woman's words rang true. Nora could feel the genuine nature that she held. The tears she had been holding off since she awoke now began to well in her eyes and stream down her face. The old woman came up and wrapped her arms around her. Nora held her in her own arms tightly. They stood there for a few minutes as Nora let a small amount of what she felt inside out.

"Ma'am," alerted Codsworth. "I am detecting three or so individuals entering town." Immediately the people began to move.

The old woman pulled Nora over to the house across from hers and people readied their weapons. Codsworth hovered into position besides Nora. She waited along with the others as they all waited to see if it was friend or foe that was coming to meet them.

"It's them," said one of the younger men in the group. "And they have Jessica!" He and a few of the others darted toward the group walking down the road.

Nora leaned around the wall, and there in-between a young woman and a man wearing an old hat and coat, walked Nate. He was dirty and looked beyond tired. His vault suit was torn and shredded in various places. But when his eyes met hers, he broke out the radiant smile that only he could show. She ran toward him, more tears streaming down her face and he met her with open arms.

* * *

Mandalore the freedom and Xypher1: Thanks for the suggestions. They will definitely help as the story unfolds! And yes, Nate is former special forces. It made since that he is considering all that he can do in the game, how he could come out of the vault and immediately start kicking butt. And his reaction and role in this new world will be different when compared to Nora. I felt how they treated her was less than ideal. For one, even though it has been established in the lore and games that one needs proper training to use Power Armor, in F4 she can jump right into it in Concord. Plus, she comes off as someone familiar with combat even though she was not in the military like Nate. True, she might have had some training from her husband or family, but her reaction and interaction to the post-apocalyptic world should have been different than Nate's unless they did something like having the player choose the gender before the game, and whichever gender they chose giving the into and being the one with military experience.

This does not mean Nora is weaker, not at all! Rather, she will have a different skill set and also see the world different than her husband. She is strong and a leader like him, if not more so, at least in my story and I look forward to seeing everything she will accomplish. And, hopefully, she will play a very critical hand in rebuilding the Commonwealth. Great civilizations start with great leaders after all.

And it will be interesting to see how Nate interacts with the Brotherhood. I have some things in mind so I don't want to get too spoiler-specific, but it will be neat!

Thanks for reading and please feel free to let me know your thoughts, follow and subscribe. Till next time!


	4. Chapter 4: Sanctuary Under Siege

Hello, everyone! Welcome back to Commonwealth Rising. Please feel free to follow and favorite as it really means a lot to me. Also, feel free to leave a review to let me know what you think! Enjoy!

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Chapter 4: Sanctuary Under Siege

The dusty wind blew softly against Nate's face as he held Nora by his side as they both looked at Shaun's broken crib. Not a word was shared between them as the minutes stretched on. The only noise in the room that had so recently, to them, been whole and new was the panting of the dog that laid by their feet.

"We'll get him back," said Nora softly, but full of rigid determination. "We will find our son."

"I have no doubt," said Nate as he gave her a tight squeeze. "We should leave in the morning for this 'Diamond City'. It's suppose to be in the middle of downtown Boston."

"I've been thinking about that," started Nora, her eyes still fixated on the broken crib.

"And?" asked Nate.

"I don't think I should go with you." Nate gave her a puzzled look as she looked into his eyes, but she continued before he could say anything. "This is not the world we knew. Just look at your tattered vault suit and the wounds you earned from saving that girl. Not to mention the bullet hole in my stomach. But though this isn't our world, it's a world that you know; that you've shown you can survive out there amongst the dangers and monsters. That's not me."

"I don't know about that," said Nate slowly as he looked down at his wife. "You are pretty tough."

"But that doesn't matter here," she said. "I spent these last few years studying law, to fight yes, but with words. But during that time you were fighting and building a skill set that is critical for living here. I don't have that. If I went out there, I would just get in your way and slow you down."

Nate continued to look down at his wife as he thought over her words. She was right, of course, but he still did not like the thought of leaving her behind. "So what do you suggest?"

"When we find Shaun, we have to have a home for him. Somewhere safe in the this wasteland. I think these settlers here in Sanctuary offer some potential for making that home a reality."

"They honestly don't seem like they have their wits about them; to me, anyway," said Nate.

"They come from a completely different world than us. I think they could learn from us, but I also think we could learn a lot from them. And, they want to build something. Build a safe home. That's why they came here."

"Always the diplomat," said Nate with a smile as he pulled her into a hug. "Well, they are going to start their little meeting soon about fixing up the neighborhood and since they asked us to join them, we may as well see what ideas they are offering."

They slowly broke their hug and turned to leave the room with the dog at their heels. As he went through the doorway, Nate turned for just a second to look back at his son's crib.

I'm coming, buddy, don't you worry, he thought.

"You know, we really should name him since he's taking such a liking you," said Nora, snapping Nate away from his thoughts.

"Oh yeah? Any suggestions?"

"How about Clyde?"

"Clyde?" asked Nate with mock surprise. "Wasn't that one of your old boyfriends?"

Nora gave a short laugh. It's authenticity though rang like the sweetest bells in Nate's ears. "No! You're thinking of Cliff."

"Huh. Well Clyde sounds good to me." He turned to the dog and bent his need so he was face to face with their new friend. "What do you say, boy? Does Clyde sound good to you?"

The dog gave a happy bark in response as he wagged his tail.

"Well that settles it," said Nate. "Clyde it is."

With the name for their furry friend chosen, the three exited the old house and made their way to the house that was still standing across the road that had become the de-facto headquarters of the settlers. Numerous workbenches were already there, most likely from someone that had previously tried to make the old house their home. Through the broken walls and windows Nate could see the settlers from Quincy and Tenpines milling around inside engaged in numerous conversations. The only one not in the house was Bobby Raney who stood on the roof keeping lookout for anyone that would come their way. Bobby gave Nate a quick nod which Nate returned. Gratitude towards Nate shined in the boy's eyes for how Nate had saved his cousin, Jessica.

"We've been waiting for you two," said Preston as Nate and Nora entered the house. "Have you made up your mind on whether you will stay with us or not?"

"Well, we'd like to hear your plans before we decide anything," said Nora.

"Then let's get started," said a chipper Preston as he walked over to a table in the middle of the room. From a bag next to it he pulled out a large, folded piece of paper and began to spread it out over the table.

Nate walked over the to table with everyone else. The map was a prewar map, but it was covered in numerous different outlines and boundaries that had been drawn on. It was also littered with color coded icons of various shapes.

"This is a detailed map," commented Nate.

"I've worked hard on it," said Preston with a hint of pride in his voice. "In the minutemen I was responsible for intelligence gathering and scouting. I know every inch of the Commonwealth."

"So why choose Sanctuary Hills, then?" asked Nora as she scanned the map."

"Well, it was Mama Murphy that suggested this place to us," said Sturges.

"And why did you suggest it, Mama Murphy?"

Marcy Long gave a quick sigh and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, why don't you tell them about your visions."

"The sight's never been wrong for us before," said Mama Murphy with a defensive tone, but one that suggested this was a very old conversation.

"It wasn't just because of that," said Preston as he reached down into a satchel on the floor next to the table and pulled out a few stained files and handed one of them to Nora. "This area has very arable land, and as you can see on the map it relatively safe from some of the more dangerous areas of the Commonwealth."

"And you think this is a wise move?" asked Nate as he looked down at the map."

"Yeah, I do," answered Preston. "It's far enough northwest that it's outside of raider territory. We should be able to be free of any trouble for a few months which will allow us to build up a solid defense."

"Raiders? You mean like the ones in Corvega?" asked Nate.

"Specifically the ones in Corvega," said Preston as he tapped on a red icon on the map that looked like a dog over where the Covega factory was located on the outskirts of Lexington. "They call themselves the 'Wolves' and this area of the Commonwealth is there territory. They have a few outposts, mostly around Lexington, but the damage you gave to them should buy us a good amount of time."

"He did more than just damage them," said Jessica who had been listening off to the side of the table. "He exterminated them."

"And good riddance," said Dr. Yates gruffly. "Nothing but trouble and if you didn't give them what they wanted… well, you saw what happened."

"There were only a few dozen raiders at the factory," said Nate. "And they weren't very organized. How come no one has banded together and taken them out, if they have been such a nuisance?"

"That would have been a job for the Minutemen, but after Quincy the Minutemen don't really exist anymore," said Preston solemnly.

"So the Minutemen use to be able to keep these raiders in check?" asked Nora.

"Oh yeah," answered Preston. "When the minutemen were in their prime the raiders knew to leave the settlements alone. Most settlements in Commonwealth were part of the militia, even Diamond City. On the map, all of the light blue marks were once part of the Minutemen. Now… there are none."

Nate looked down at the map. There were light blue marks all over the Commonwealth. "What's the light blue star over Fort Independence?"

"That's the Castle," said Preston. "It used to be our headquarters before it fell, long before I joined."

"So this militia, it defended all of these settlements?" asked Nate.

"Yeah," answered Preston. "Whenever one of the settlements came under attack, all the other settlements would coordinate to come to their defense."

"Come to their defense on what? Foot?" asked Nate.

"Mostly, yes. At different points we had access to some vehicles, but mostly it was responding to the distress calls on foot."

"Then I can understand why you failed," said Nate.

"What do you mean?" asked Preston defensively.

"These settlements are all over the Commonwealth," started Nate. "And with the roads in the condition that they are, traversing the Commonwealth is not easy, and I can only imagine what a horror Boston is to get through. And if all these red icons on the map represent threats like the Wolves, then that only makes it harder to travel here and there. Combine all that with the fact you relied on traveling by foot, then I can easily see why your militia didn't last."

"We did the best we could," said Preston with a sigh.

"I'm not saying you didn't, Preston," said Nate. "But your best wasn't good enough and you need to learn from that if you ever want to protect these settlements."

"And what exactly would we learn?" asked Preston.

"Well I guess the first thing would be settlement location," started Nate. "Now, to an extent, Sanctuary Hills makes since. It's isolated and you say it has arable land. But that isolation can hurt you as much as it can help you. Not only will trade be more difficult, but also any cross-settlement defense like what you had with the Minutemen. And, while the land here is arable, there's not much to go in the way of building up proper defenses. These old houses will make horrible shelters and scrapping them will yield poor results for building at best. So to build this settlement up where it can withstand groups like I saw at Corvega, you will need to bring in a lot of materials from outside of the settlement, which is also made more difficult due to the isolation. That is going to require a lot of manpower, but you're limited to what manpower based on how much food you can grow. It takes just over an acre of land to support one person for an entire year. And I imagine it's going to take a good long while before you are set up to provide for a population that will actually allow you to build up."

"So what are you saying? That we're fucked?" asked Marcy Long.

"What my husband is saying is that you have to learn from the past," answered Nora. "Now it seems that cooperation between settlements is already established as a workable idea. But you also need to learn to centralize your efforts. This applies to defense, after all you can't help too many people if they are dead by the time you get there, but it also applies to trade and gathering materials. If you want to build something that lasts, then it has to be able to protect itself, help protect its allies, and be in a reasonable position to practice trade. As Nate pointed out, this area just simply isn't a good one for a strong settlement."

"But these settlers have to survive," protested Preston.

"There is surviving, and then there is thriving," answered Nora. "If you just focus on surviving, then you will always be in a position of disadvantage because there will be those that want to thrive and take advantage of your survival instinct. You have to think about thriving, about building something that will last."

"Then where would you kids suggest we go?" asked Mama Murphy.

Nora looked to Nate, wanting him to respond.

"Well," he said as he pointed at a yellow icon on the map. "Tell me about this location here."

"That's Abernathy Farm," said Preston. The Abernathy family runs it and they have about a dozen hands helping manage their fields. They are where the Wolves get a large amount of their food."

"And I trust they don't have any strong feelings for the raiders?" asked Nate.

"Not in the least," answered Preston. "Especially since one of the Wolf outposts killed one of the Abernathy girls."

"Well then," started Nate He paused for a moment and gathered his thoughs. "I think the best place to set up shop would be Concord."

"Concord?" asked Marcy with alarm. "Are you fucking crazy? We barely escaped that place alive!"

"Just look at the map," said Nate calmly. "Concord is in the center of a lot of stuff. Not only is it relatively close to Sanctuary, which means it would be possible to establish a farming settlement here, but it's also close to Abernathy Farm, and I bet we could set up a deal with them so they would trade food with us. After all, at this time of year we are not going to be able to plant many crops until spring comes around. But it's more than just that. It's location is great for scavenging from nearby areas, not to mention trading with other, larger settlements like Diamond City. And, we could also focus on establishing smaller settlements, like here in Sanctuary, around Concord which will make a collective defense with Concord in the center making it easy to respond to any threats that arise."

"But Concord is a mess," said Sturges.

"Some of the buildings will have to be brought down, but there are plenty that I saw that seem stable and will offer a lot more shelter and protection then these houses here," countered Nate.

"Whoa now," said Sturges. "That's some major construction you are talking about there. None of us here know how to do anything like that."

"I do," said Nora. Everyone turned and looked at her waiting for her to continue. "Well, my parents owned a small construction company down in Florida and I helped them out when I was in school and in the summers during college. I'm not saying that I as good as my dad, but I do know a few things that should help."

"And Sturges," said Nate. "You said you could fix up anything, right? Could you fix up some construction machinery?"

"Uh, yeah, in theory anyway," said Sturges. "I've never really tried to work on anything so large before, but it can't be harder then getting power armor up and running."

"And we should be able to recycle a lot of materials for shoring up the buildings in Concord and building up new ones, including defenses," said Nora. "And over to the east is the quarry. We should be able to get some good stone from there if we can get that machinery working again as well."

"So then what I propose is that we move to Concord, make contact with Abernathy Farms and work out a trade deal to get us supplied for the short term," said Nate as he leaned away from the map. "After that, then we focus on recruiting more people to bolster the settlement."

"So, does that mean you two will be staying with us?" asked Preston.

Nora looked at Nate and he gave her a nod. "We are going to find our son," she said. "But we need not only a home, but a future for him. So yes, we will be staying."

Nate nodded in agreement. He did not fully trust these people yet, but that type of trust took time to earn. He would keep his guard up but he had a good feeling about this group.

Just don't let me be wrong about them, he though with an internal grimace.

"But… but before we start packing up to return to Concord, what about the Wolves?" asked Jun Long. It was the first time he had said anything since the start of the meeting.

"The Wolves central base is the Corvega Factory, right?" asked Nate. Preston gave him a affirmative nod. "It was clear that when I was in there that they use the machinery to provide themselves with arms and armor. Without it they are weak. They have two choices then. One is to attempt to do without it, which they may be able to do in the short term if they keep to themselves, but in the long term they will suffer. The second is that they try to retake the factory which should now be flooded with ghouls. Either way, right now there is a power vacuum, and trust me, some group will fill the vacuum sooner or later. It can be the Wolves, another raider group, or, it can be us. That's why it's important we start off right and begin building up connections throughout the Commonwealth."

The group went silent as they thought about what Nate and Nora had said. A few more questions and ideas arose, but they were answered reasonably.

"Then I guess all we have to do now is put it up to a vote," said Preston. "All those in favor of going to Concord raise your hands. All those against, well, nows your last chance to speak up."

Nate watched as hand after hand went up around the room. The last to raise their hand was Marcy, but what resistance she held was eroded after her husband's hand went up into the air.

"Then it's unanimous," said Preston with a smile. "We are going back to Concord."

"Hopefully it will be better the second time," chimed Sturges.

-)(-

The sun was high in the air as Nora watched her husband check over his weapons as they sat in what remained of their living room. Methodically, he inspected each weapon as well as each bullet. Every so often he would throw a bullet to the side, seeing some imperfection that only someone with his level of training and experience could see. To her, they just looked like any other bullet. He did the same with the dozen weapons in front of him. Some he was clearly satisfied with while with others he was not. Again, to her they all looked the same. Dirty and old.

Finally he finished and stood up. He put on his leather armor over his torn vault suit. Then he carefully selected the weapons that he would choose. A pistol went into a holster on his belt. A shotgun with a short barrel went into a holster tied around his calf. And his knife went into a sheath that was tied to the back of his belt that was horizontal with his waist. He thumbed through the ammo and placed what he needed within the pouches incorporated into his armor.

"I really wish you weren't going by yourself," she said as she watched him go over his mental list.

"I'll be able to scout out Concord and get back here a lot faster if I don't have anyone slowing me down," said Nate after he gave himself a few quick pats to make sure he had everything. "Besides, I'm not going to be alone. Clyde's coming along to keep me company."

He crossed the small distance that separated them and took a seat on the faded red couch where Nora was seated. He brought up one of his hands to her cheeks and softly brushed it as he looked into her eyes. The warmth of his touch settled some of the uneasiness that filled her stomach, but most of it still remained.

"I just… I just want you to be safe," she said softly to him as he looked into his brown eyes that were peering down at her.

He gave her a small smile. "Trust me, the last thing I want to happen is to get hurt out there. But, me going out is something that you are going to have to get use to."

"I thought I would be free of that feeling when you came home from the army," she said as eyes threatened to tear up. She took a deep breath and forced her tears back.

"I did too," said Nate softly. "I just guess we aren't that lucky. But even still, we are a lot luckier than a lot of people. We're still alive."

"But I want us to stay alive!" she exclaimed. "I don't want you to die there at the hands of those ghouls or whatever other monsters you told me about."

"Now you look at me," he said as his voice turned firm and his fingers laced around her chin which he tugged towards him so she would look at him. "We are all going to die someday. We can't stop that. But I am not going out there to die. I am going out there so that our family, you, me and Shaun, can live. It's going to be hard and we are going to have to take risk, but like you said an hour ago, we have to thrive."

Nora took another sigh. "I know, and you know I know. It's just hard seeing you going out there. It's just reminding me of all those times you were deployed. And I am just sitting here waiting."

"I think that you are doing yourself a disservice," said Nate with a warm smile. "I really doubt that you are going to do much waiting while I am gone. From what it sounds like, you are going to be the one rebuilding civilization. That's a lot harder than firing a gun. Besides, the Chinese were a lot better fighters than these guys here in the Commonwealth."

She chuckled and before anymore words could be said she leaned into him, held him close, and gave him a long, slow, kiss.

Fifteen minutes later she watched as Nate gave her a wave as he walked over what remained of the bridge leading out of Sanctuary and to Concord. Beside him walked Clyde, wagging his tail and looking thrilled to be going on an adventure. Still, as she watched him go, dread threatened to worm itself back into her heart.

"Don't worry, kid," said Mama Murphy who was standing next to her. "He'll be back around dusk and he'll be fine. I can see it. Now, we have some preparing to do if we are going to set off in the morning." The old woman turned and began walking back to where the rest were gathered further in Sanctuary.

As Nate faded from view, Nora wondered if Mama Murphy really could see such things. She did not know, but she could not deny that the old woman's certainty gave her comfort, whether in reality it was true or not.

-)(-

The following hours paced quickly as Nora kept her hands busy preparing for the eventual trip. Even though the settlers had only been in Sanctuary for a day, there was still of great deal to do. Packing up what possessions they had brought with them had been relatively quick, but the majority of time had been spent going through the dozens of houses in Sanctuary Hills to scavenge for anything useful. Nora followed behind Mama Murphy and Sturges as they went from one house to another. What her eyes saw as junk, their experienced eyes saw as vital necessities to be collected. They went through cabinets, boxes and anything that could of held the slightest possibility of something useful. And when they found simple pieces of scrap that in her life, even when things were tough, she had casually tossed into the trashcan, they rejoiced. But to them, what she once considered trash was their key to survival.

As Nora trailed behind them, she payed attention and tried to develop some portion of their sense for scavenging. She went room to room tearing through boxes and did what she could to train her eye to see the value in the debris. But as the sun sunk lower into the distance, she knew that she had at least learned something.

"You did good today, kid," said Mama Murphy as they walked back to the house that served as they headquarters. The final flicker of sun was just on the horizon. Darkness was quickly descending onto the broken streets.

"Yeah, for someone that's spent the last two-hundred years on ice, you're not too bad," echoed Sturges.

"Thanks, guys," said Nora earnestly as she walked between them. "But I still have a long way to go."

They slowly wound around a curve. The light from a few lanterns in the house that was serving as a temporary base was spilling out through the various windows and holes in the walls. The faint outline of Bobby was still on roof as he stood guard.

"What's going on there?" asked Sturges as he began picking up his pace.

-)(-

Nora strained her eyes in the darkness. Huddled around outside the house were a few of the settlers. Someone appeared to be on the ground surrounded by the others. Sturges soon broke into a run. Nora and Mama Murphy quickly followed.

"Now just hold still, girl," ordered Dr. Yates as Nora the rest approached the group. The doctor was bent over a girl. Blood glimmered in the rising moonlight on her body. "Alright, let's get you moved inside. I'm going to need to treat these wounds."

"We… we don't have time," stuttered the girl.

"What's going on?" asked Nora as she stopped beside the group.

The injured girl looked up at her. Her eyes went wide. "You! They're coming for you!"

"Who would be coming after Nora," asked Dr. Yates.

"The Wolves," said the girl softly. "They attacked farm looking for a vault dweller. They're coming this way."

"Lucy, why would the Wolves attack Abernathy Farm if they were looking for a vault dweller?" asked Preston.

"I don't know," said the injured girl, Lucy. "I was away from the farm and when I came back my parents and everyone else had been rounded up by the Wolves. I overheard them saying that a vault dweller killed some of them and they wanted to find him. George, stupid George, he said he saw you and Preston walking with a young girl back over here. Then one of those raiders saw me and started shooting." She clutched her side where she was bleeding. "So I ran. And I wanted to want you."

"That's brave of you girl, but right now all you need to do is focus on not bleeding out," said Dr. Yates. "Now let's get you on your feet so I can get you under some damn light."

"But if when are the Wolves going to be here?" asked Marcy with alarm. "We need to leave!"

There was a thud on the ground behind them followed by a hollowed sound of a gunshot.

"Bobby? Bobby!" screamed Susan as she ran over to her brother that had just fallen off of the roof. She began shake her brother and talking to him in a frantic voice telling him to get up."

Dr. Yates moved over to the fallen man and checked him over. "Susan. Susan, you need to step back."

"He's not breathing, uncle!" she said as she clutched her brother even tighter.

"Preston, get everyone inside!" said the doctor. "Bobby was shot."

"Shot?" asked a horrified Susan.

Out of the quite night rose a noise that instantly sent chills down Nora. As if from all around the sound of wolves howling rose up into the cold sky.

"Everyone inside!" ordered Preston.

Nora jumped in line with the rest and began moving inside the house. Dr. Yates pulled at his niece who was still clutching her brother.

"We can't leave him, uncle!" she shouted at him.

"Damn it, Susan," Dr. Yates shouted back. "He's dead and you will be to if you don't get your ass inside!" With all his strength he grabbed his niece and threw her away from her brother. "Inside!"

Susan finally conceded and she and her uncle joined the others inside.

"Put the lanterns out," said Mama Murphy. Those inside did not waste time and soon it was as dark inside as it was out. But the howls continued. They became louder and closer.

"I guess this is why they are called the Wolves?" asked Nora as she huddled next to a wall.

"It's one of the reasons," said Preston who was crouched next to Nora. He then held out a pistol. "You are probably going to need this."

Nora took the pistol. Half her mind was wondering what other reasons the raiders were called the Wolves while the other part of her mind tried to remember the few times Nate had taken her to the shooting range. She shook her head and focused her attention on the weapon she had just been handed.

What the hell is this? She asked herself as she looked down on the pistol Preston had handed her. It did not look like anything she had ever seen or held. It looked like it was made out of pipes like one would find in a home's plumbing.

Bullets suddenly ripped into the sides of the house. Her thoughts about the gun's odd design fled from her head as she ducked down to the ground. Sparks flew with each bullet impact causing small shadows to jump all around them. A few people screamed while a few other began firing blindly through the openings in the walls.

"Everyone hold your fire!" shouted Preston. "Don't waste a single round unless you actually see someone."

The return fire from the settlers stopped. They all waited. Silence stretched for a few minutes. Then the howls cracked it once more. In the center of the room under a table Jun Long began hyperventilating and muttering as he rocked back and forth.

"Over to the right!" said Sturges who immediately opened fire with a rifle.

Preston peered through the opening and brought up his own rifle. Red flashed came to life with the distinctive discharge of his weapon. Nora just kept her hand down. Her heart was racing and her breath came quickly. She closed her eyes and tried to force down the fear that was welling within her. The sound of gunfire continued to increase.

"They're all around us!" shouted someone. She did not know who said it. She was trying her best to not devolve into a shaking mess like Jun.

But then she opened her eyes and held her breath. Jun was still in the center of the room rocking back and forth but everyone else was grim faced and firing their weapons. Each paused to line up their shots, but everyone was in the fight. She looked at the two examples before her. One was Jun. He was helpless, pathetic even. They were facing who knew how many enemies, and he just wallowed in self pity and fear. And then she looked at the rest. They were all tired, dirty, strained, but still they fought. Still they fired. The sounds of gunfire slowed in her ears. The cries of the settlers faded.

Who am I, thought Nora as time slowed to her eyes. I am not a soldier. I'm not like Nate. I don't know how to fight! Again she looked at Jun. But I'm not like that…

Time snapped back to its proper speed. She felt the weight of her gun in her hand. It was heavier than it was before, more solid. She took in a deep breath, then turned and looked out a hole in the wall that was free of the other settlers around her. She scanned out into the darkness. Shapes of men bounced between the houses, some firing as they ran for cover. It seemed like they were surrounded by dozens of enemies. Shots came from everywhere. But again she took a deep breath. She brought up her pistol and took aim. She waited for the right moment. Then she fired. And then she continued to fire. She was not careless but instead made each shot count. So she aimed and fired, then repeated the process. Round after round was spent as she joined in with the other settlers in defending themselves from the attackers. She was one with them in this moment, in this desperate bid for their collective defense. And while she knew some shots she fired never came close to hitting their targets, she was confident at least a couple of them made contact with some part of an enemy.

Then her gun clicked as she pulled the trigger. She pulled the trigger again and again the gun clicked. Confusion clouded her mind before it dawned on her that she was out of bullets. She swung away from the opening she had been firing out of. She looked to Preston who was still firing. She glanced again out of her hole. A few bodies were on the ground, but plenty were still dancing around them. She still needed to fight, but she had no idea how to reload the gun. She looked to Preston again, but before she could ask him for help, flashes of light exploded around them.

With the crack of glass, fire erupted from the ground in several areas around the house. The fire did not hit the house, but it was close and blinded those inside. The settlers stopped firing, but so did the gunfire from outside. Nora risked a glance outside. The fires had already begun to die down, but she could see a single figure behind the dying lights.

"I think we have had enough bloodshed for tonight," called out the figure standing behind the dying flames. "How about we make peace?"

"And why would we want that?" Preston called back. "We've already knocked some of your boys onto the ground."

"That you have," answered the man. "You've shown yourselves to be quite capable. But sadly for you, you haven't gotten all of us yet." More howls went up into the air as the man smiled at those inside of the house. "But if you choose not to make peace, then the next round of molotovs will hit that pile of rubble all of you are hiding in. The first round was a warning, a sign of my good faith. But test that faith and you will all burn."

The settlers in the room were silent. Nora shared in their silence. If what the man said was true then they had few options. If they set the building on fire then those inside would have to run. They would be easy picking if that happened.

"So then how do we make this peace you're talking about?" asked Preston before the silence could stretch on any longer.

"Simple," called out the figure. "We know that a vault dweller attacked us in Corvega and we know this vault dweller is with you now. Turn the vault dweller over to us, and we will leave the rest of you alone. I think that is mighty fair, wouldn't you all agree?"

"The vault dweller you are looking for isn't here," shouted Preston. "I-"

"I said don't test my faith!" the figure shouted back. "We saw the vault dweller with your people before we started the attack. They are in the the house there with you. I saw the blue vault suit! So you have two minutes. Turn over the vault dweller or you all burn. The clock…. Is… ticking!"

Nora's eyes went wide as she realized the figure was not talking about Nate, he was talking about her. He thought that she was responsible for what Nate had done to them. Her throat went dry as her hands started to shake rattling the empty pistol against the hard ground. The others in the house all turned to look at her. She returned their gaze.

"Like hell we are going to turn her over," said Dr. Yates.

"Wait a minute now," started Marcy. "Maybe we should consider this. They want her, not us. If we give them her, then they will leave us , it's not like she's one of us, right?"

"Those bastards killed my nephew and took my daughter," said the doctor angrily. "There's no way we are turning over anyone to those beasts! And she's not even the one they are looking for."

"But they don't know that," protested Marcy. "If we don't give her up then we are all dead. What's her life compared to all of ours? It's her man's fault that they are here in the first place."

Nora could only listen as the woman pleaded with the rest to sacrifice her. Instantly she felt shaken and removed from whatever moment of union they had been experiencing.

"Now that's enough, Marcy!" whispered Preston harshly. "It was her husband that saved us in Concord."

"And it was her husband that saved my daughter," echoed Dr. Yates. "We will not give up that girl."

"You're one of us now, kid," said Mama Murphy with a nod towards Nora. "We are all in this together."

The others nodded in agreement, all except Marcy who sat slumped on the ground defeated. Even her husband, Jun, nodded in agreement with the rest. She looked at each one of them. They were all willing to face death rather than turn her out even though she was a stranger to them. Tears welled up in her eyes and she quickly wiped them away. The fact that this people were willing to stand up for her like this and put their lives on the line, it was something she had never before experienced.

She slowly took a deep breath. "Thank you all. I can't tell you how much this means to me."

"You only have a few seconds," called the figure from outside. "You better make up your minds quick."

Nora peeked around to look at the figure outside then back at her fellow settlers. "But I cannot allow you all to die for me." Quicker than any of the others could react, she jumped to her feet, leaving her gun on the ground, and darted to the doorway. The others tried to stop her but they were too slow.

She gathered what courage she could and called out to the figure. "You wanted me, well, you have me." She began walking towards him.

"Nora, don't do this!" Preston called out to her.

His plea only strengthened her conviction. They cared about her. How could she let them die if they were all willing to die for her?

"You have got to be fucking kidding me," said the figure with disbelief. "Are you telling me that a fucking woman killed my brother and his men?"

"Men? They fought like children and died like dogs," answered Nora. She put every once of bravado into her voice that she could. And she wanted the raider angry. She had to convince him that it was her that did the deeds of her husband.

As quick as humanly possible, the figure dashed towards her and leveled his fist with her stomach. Nora cried out as the blow hit. She fell to her knees holding her stomach. She tried to breath, but she could not pull in any air. The wind had been knocking out of her.

"You talk like that again and next time I will do some real damage," threatened the figure. "But I'm gonna make you pay for what you did. Oh, you're going to pay so nicely."

Nora could only stare at him as he made his threat while she waited for the air to return to her lungs. Tattoos covered the mans face and his sinister eyes bored right down at her, daring her to do anything.

"But for now, how about we give you a little taste of what the rest of your short life will be," said the figure. "I'm sure it will be a good lesson to those inside on why you should not mess with the Wolves."

The man whistled and men began to come out from behind the houses. There were around two dozen of them. Most had their weapons ready and trained on the house with the settlers inside.

"Now all of you in there are about to get a show," said the figure as two of his fellows came up behind Nora. "Any one of you does anything, and I mean anything, and my boys will burn you to the fucking ground and fill you with holes. Just be good and watch, or you will get a lot worse than her."

The two men behind Nora grabbed her roughly by the arms and forced them behind her back as they brought her to her feet. With air finally back in her lungs, she gave out a grunt in pain at the treatment.

"Oh don't worry, sweetheart," said the figure with a wicked smile as he unsheathed a knife from his side. "This is nothing compared to what you're about to get."

He moved the knife to her check and pressed it into her vault suit. She could feel it prick against her skin. The figure moved the knife up and down, tracing it along her skin but not cutting her or the suit. Then he grabbed her collar with his free hand and tore the knife into it. He put the knife back into his sheath and grabbed the torn collar with both of his hands. As though he suit was wet paper he tore it down her chest, exposing her skin to the cool night air.

"What's this?" asked the figure. "A bra? Well, aren't you one fancy lady." He pulled out his knife again and quickly cut the small strap holding the cups together. He pulled the cut bra out from her suit and threw it on the ground.

Nora felt exposed and violated. She could feel her face flush as this monster so casually did whatever he liked. She looked off to the side and refused to make eye contact with him.

"No!" said the figure as he grabbed her by the chin and forced her head in-line with his. "You will not look away! You will keep your eyes on me, no matter what."

"Nora!," called out Preston from inside.

"I said you better not fucking test my faith!" the figure yelled back. "You should only blame yourself for sending her out here. And if I hear another word from any of you, then I will gut her right here and now and kill all of you. So shut the fuck up!"

"Do what he says, Preston!" Nora called out. "I'll be fine." She tried to believe her own lies.

"Oh, girlie," stared the figure. "You are going to be anything but 'fine'. As a matter of fact, I am going to show you personally right here and now how not fine you are going to be. And then my two associates are going to do the same. Of course, they aren't nearly as gentle as I am. But over the next few months you will learn that for yourself, again and again. Until… you… die."

Now," said the figure as he let go of her chin. "Let's get the rest of this suit off you."

-)(-

Explosions shattered the darkness with fire. Nora slammed her eyes shut as one of the houses near them went up in flames and it's new heat washed over her.

"What the-" said the figure as he his head swiveled side to side.

All around him his men screamed into the darkness as explosion after explosion shattered whatever control they had over the situation. From various points around them new sounds of gunfire came to life, though it was not from the settlers inside the house or the Wolves. Some other group had entered the picture with murderous intent.

The Wolves descended into a panic as the lucky ones were killed by explosions while those less fortunate spent the last moments of their lives screaming in terror as flames engulfed their bodies. Like human torches, they lit up the dark grounds around the scene as they tried to run away from the flames consuming them.

As the shock of the explosions wore off as the seconds ticked along, the raiders begin to organize themselves, as least those that were left. But as they took up defensive positions and readied themselves to combat whatever new force had arrived, so too did the settlers that were once at their mercy. With loud cries the settlers fired into the enemy that had so recently held them hostage. Laser and bullet wore born into the night once more from the settlers as they joined in the killing.

"Grab the damn girl and let's get the fuck out of here," said the figure to his two compatriots.

They pushed Nora roughly to the dark recesses of a nearby house. Nora tried to resist, but the two brutes holding her seemed as though they did not even notice her resistance. In the chaos of the new battle, Preston's voice could be heard over the gunfire calling out to her. She tired to turn around but she was just pushed forward toward a dark house.

An explosion ripped to life in front of her and her captors as the house they were moving towards erupted in flames, joining a few of the other houses that lit up the night. She slammed her eyes shut as the light blinded her. The two holding her were startled and let her loose. She turned to run and manged to take a step before another hand grabbed her by the back of the neck and roughly pulled back. Pain ran up into her skull and down her spine as the hand squeezed so hard she though her neck would snap like a twig.

The pain forced her eyes open and like before, time seemed to slow for just an moment. Across from her the settlers fired out into the Wolves from their house that was, like a few of the others, just starting to catch fire on the roof. Over a dozen bodies littered the ground. But as she gazed around at the hell that had erupted around them, one thing in the corner of her eye caught her attention. She moved her gaze to her right where a ball of flames was dying down. On the other side of the dying wall of light, a being of shadows grew larger. With effortless ease, the being stepped through the dying flames as though it were merely a meadow. The shadows disappeared as the being stepped into the light an in its place walked a man with brown armor over a blue jump suit.

Nate had his pistol in his right hand. His left held a fresh clip which was moving slowly towards the gun as the old clip fell to the ground. Nora looked from the gun and into his eyes. The eyes that she had known were gone. They had been replaced by fire.

As their eyes made contact, time flew back to its chaotic pace. Nate inserted the new click as he pulled the trigger. Twin booms rang out into the night joining the rest. The two men that had been so roughly holding Nora screamed out in pain as they fell to the ground. But the hand holding Nora's neck only squeezed harder as she felt herself again pulled back. With a thud she hit something solid and from the corner of her eye she saw that she was being held by the tattooed faced figure that had led the Wolves on their raid.

"You son of a bitch!" screamed the figure. Fear seeped from his voice. "You take another step and this fucking bitch gets it."

Like a snake striking, Nate pointed the gun at the figure. Again, there was another boom and Nora felt the man holding her jolt. There was no scream with his fall, only a wash of warm fluid that covered Nora's side as the figures grip was let loose as he fell back

With a thud the dead Wolf hit the ground and joined the other two in a collective pool of blood. Nora looked at them and blinked. The chaos of battle had disappeared. Now, there was only silence that was occasionally interrupted by the crackling of houses and bodies burning.

As Nora looked upon the dead trio another hand grabbed her arm, but this was not the rough grasp that she had felt earlier. This touch was soft and gentle as it beckoned her to turn around. She turned and the eyes of her husband met her. Gone were the eyes of flame. Now there were only the soft brown mirrors she had always known.

She lunged for him and wrapped her arms around him with all her strength. He wrapped his around hers and for a few moments they stood there in peace.

Eventually, Nate broke their embrace and placed his hand on her cheek. "How about we get you cleaned up," he offered.

She could only cry in response.

-)(-

Finally, the sun began its rise into the sky officially ending the night. Heavy smoke still rose into the air and the memories were still fresh in her mind, but as the warm rays hit her face Nora could only smile. In the hours since the raid no one had slept. Instead, they had busied themselves with light firefighting and sorting through the dead Wolves in search of anything valuable. The blood had long been scrubbed from her skin and her suit had been replaced with a worn, but comfortable flannel shirt with equally worn and comfortable pair of jeans that were just a bit to large.

Laughter rose from down the street catching her attention. Nate and Preston were standing across from Blake Abernathy who had his arm around his injured daughter. Another ten men were chuckling along with Blake at something either Nate or Preston had said. It gave a much softer view of the farmers who were armed to the teeth and were quite intimidating otherwise.

But it was partially because of those farmers that she was standing there enjoying the morning sunlight. After she had been cleaned up and changed into fresh clothes, she began talking to their leader, Blake. She went up to him to give him and his men their deserved thanks for traveling with Nate and helping fight off the Wolves. But it had been Blake that had given her and her husband thanks.

He told her that Nate had found one of the raiders in Concord and discovered that a raiding party was looking for him, with their next stop being the farm. Nate had followed them and had come upon the raiders left behind to watch the farmers as the rest moved on to Sanctuary Hills. Blake said that Nate simply took care of the few left behind, and then began to go after the rest. Grateful for Nate saving helping them and worried about his daughter, Blake had offered to go with him to face the Wolves. And together they came upon their surprised enemy and dispatched them. The old farmer was beyond relieved to find his daughter injured, but well taken care of by the settlers in Sanctuary.

With a few waves and words the farmers turned to leave and began their walk back to their farm. Nate and Preston exchanged a few words then began moving back to the main house to help the others with packing up for the move to Concord. Nora began walking to meet them, but then she stilled as her breath leapt from her chest.

Nate suddenly bent over and reached out to Preston looking for support. Preston was clearly disturbed by Nate's sudden act, but as Nate sunk lower to the ground Preston began to yell for Dr. Yates. Nora broke into a run towards her husband and the Minuteman. When she arrived she was greeted with Nate laying on the ground. His eyes were close and his face was pale. His chest heaved heavily as he struggled to breath. She bent down to him and started talking to him, trying to get him to open his eyes. But no matter what she said, his eyes stayed close.

-)(-

They had to carry him to Concord. It had made their journey more difficult, but no one complained and everyone took a turn holding the makeshift stretcher. When they arrived they had made their base inside old church next to the Museum of Freedom. In the corner of the room Nate was laying on a thick padding of blankets. Nora sat beside him. She just looked down at his pale face. A knot was firmly lodged in her stomach.

"You shouldn't be worrying so much," said Dr. Yates as he stepped to the other side of Nate and examined his patient. "He's a strong lad. He should be fine. It will just take time."

"I know, doctor," said said softly. "It's just hard seeing him like this."

"Well, I can't say I am not surprised. You two were sealed away for over two-hundred years inside that vault without any exposure to the outside world that was a lot different to the environment you were use to. Honestly, you two should be glad you are even alive."

"But why am I not like this?" asked Nora.

"Well, you've been taking it relatively easy compared to him," answered the doctor. "Nate here has been going non-stop since he woke up in the Vault. He's had a decent amount of radiation exposure and a fair amount of contact with other people and creatures. Not a good combination. You just keep taking those meds that I gave you and you shouldn't suffer too much, but these next few weeks probably won't be the easiest for you as you adjust. Just let me know if you start feeling anything at all, alright?"

"I will, doctor. Thank you."

"No thanks necessary, Nora. We take care of our own here in the Commonwealth."

Nora looked around the church. "We are going to have a lot to do, aren't we?" she asked.

"Well, if you want to rebuild this town, then I think that is an understatement. But I have a good feeling about it, and I usually don't have very many good feelings about anything."

With that the doctor left leaving Nora alone with Nate and her thoughts. There was a lot to do. But as she looked around the ruins of her world, she felt that she just might be able to make a difference. She grabbed Nate's hand and gave it a squeeze. She was surprised to feel it squeeze back.

* * *

And there ends another Chapter. I actually trouble writing this one as I had to get it just right. I must have written it half a dozen times trying to figure everything out.

But anyway, one thing I don't want anyone to take away from this is that Nora is a weak character. I have a lot of plans for Nora, but like I said previously she is not ready for this world like Nate is. I am really sad that Bethesda did not giving a different route for each character to go on in the beginning. Playing as Nora in the game, she just felt out of place. She was just a normal person before the war with training how to be a lawyer, not fight, and I always found it silly that she could easily pick up and gun and fight and then be expected to fight off a deathclaw while using power armor right off the bat. Nate made since because of his military career, but the story just felt cheap with her. Bethesda could have done a lot of really neat and powerful stuff with her story about how she, like us, would of had to adjust to this cruel world. But sadly, they did not. I am to correct that, to make both her and Nate make since in this world respective of who they are as individuals. I think it will be fun.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Follow, Favorite and leave a review to let me know what you thought. Thanks guys and gals!


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